Channel 14 television host Erel Segal launched a scathing attack Wednesday on former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar during an interview on Radio 103FM, accusing him of criminal negligence in his response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.
"Ronen Bar acted with criminal negligence on October 7; he should be sitting in prison," Segal said. "If I were the father of one of the Golani Brigade soldiers who was killed there, I would pursue him until my last day. If they had woken up Netanyahu, the incident would have looked different, but Bar decided to handle it alone and abandoned the communities, the Nova festival, the Golani soldiers, he abandoned them!"
His comments came after Channel 11 reported last week that a direct, secret communication channel existed between Israel and Hamas throughout the war. According to the report, this channel included several phone conversations between Bar and senior Hamas official Razi Hamad.
The existence of these calls was only recently cleared for publication by Israeli military censors in an unusual move.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the direct channel was intended to help resolve points of disagreement that arose during negotiations for the release of hostages held by Hamas. These sources said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior Hamas figure Khalil al-Hayya both gave their blessing for the secret channel to operate. The conversations between Bar and Hamad took place several times, though the sources emphasized that ultimately, the hostage release agreement were achieved through the efforts of mediating countries.
