Former Shin Bet chief Bar sues PM Netanyahu for 3 million shekels — Jerusalem Post
Former head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service Ronen Bar filed a 3 million shekel defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Israel’s Central District Court on October 14. The Jerusalem Post reports.
In the lawsuit, Bar claims that during the months before the October 7 attack, he repeatedly warned Netanyahu of a likely escalation on several fronts, including in the Gaza Strip and during Jewish holidays. According to his version, he also submitted proposals for strikes against senior Hamas officials, but the prime minister rejected or ignored both the warnings and the proposed plans.
Responsibility for the failure
Bar said that he acknowledges responsibility for Shin Bet’s failure to provide intelligence about the attack and its timing. According to him, he resigned afterward. At the same time, the former intelligence chief disputes Netanyahu’s statements, which, in his view, falsely shift responsibility for the events of October 7 onto him.
A statement on Bar’s behalf says that he had been waiting for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, which was supposed to determine the circumstances of Shin Bet’s actions and failures. He explained his recourse to the court by a prolonged campaign of personal discrediting, which, he said, harms the service, its employees, and the memory of those killed.
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The lawsuit also alleges that Netanyahu had for years pursued a policy of “calm at any cost” in the Gaza Strip. According to Bar’s version, it involved preserving Hamas as the governing force in Gaza and postponing confrontation.
Claims about warnings during the night
The lawsuit also claims that Shin Bet began distributing warnings among all security agencies at 3:03 on the night of the attack. According to Bar’s position, the Military Secretariat in the prime minister’s office and other services received updates on the intelligence situation, and Bar instructed that a message be sent to Netanyahu’s military secretary before the attack began.
Bar denies accusations that Shin Bet withheld information. The lawsuit also states that Netanyahu, who had served as prime minister for nearly two decades in total and oversaw Israel’s security agencies, knew the limits of the service’s authority: it does not command troops on the ground, approve civilian gatherings, or deploy civilian emergency response groups.
The former Shin Bet chief said he would demand full disclosure of documents as part of the court proceedings.
