Netanyahu's dramatic response to Bar revealed

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu submitted a counter-affidavit to the Supreme Court today (Sunday) in response to the affidavit filed last week by dismissed Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. In the affidavit, Netanyahu responded to allegations against him - and detailed the dates of their private meetings, including who requested them.

Before responding to the claims raised by Bar last week, Netanyahu prefaced that most of the "quotes" in Bar's affidavit are, according to Bar's declaration, internal records made by his aides, while the quotes Netanyahu is attaching are from official documents that he has the authority to approve for publication, "due to the importance of the public's right to know."

At the beginning of the response affidavit, Netanyahu addressed Bar's claim that he (Netanyahu) had asked him to provide an opinion in an attempt to prevent him from testifying continuously in the trial. Netanyahu denied this claim, stating that Bar was never asked to give such an opinion, but this was Bar's own conclusion from the events. Netanyahu revealed quotes from his conversations with Bar in which he actually said that nothing should be done to delay the trial.

Netanyahu also claimed that, contrary to Bar's assertion, he did not ask Bar to use special measures against political opponents whose protests did not involve threats of violence. Netanyahu called this claim unfounded and said no evidence was attached to support it.

Netanyahu further attacked Bar's claim that in their meeting on March 7, 2023, he asked those present to leave the room and stay with him in private without a recording device so that the conversation would not be documented. According to Netanyahu, "The relevant transcript shows that in that meeting, it was actually Bar who asked to remain with me in private at the end of the meeting."

What Preceded the Massacre

Netanyahu then addresses the events of that night. "It is difficult to understate the audacity characterizing Bar's claim that he gave a warning and woke up the entire system on the night of October 7," Netanyahu attacked. "The Prime Minister, Minister of Defense, IDF soldiers, rapid response teams, and those partying at Nova - he did not wake up."

Netanyahu detailed that three hours and fifteen minutes after the attack began, a summary of the Shin Bet chief's situation assessment, which according to his affidavit ended at 5:15 AM, arrived at his military secretary's office. Netanyahu: "One has to rub one's eyes to believe what operational principles the Shin Bet chief established an hour and fifteen minutes before the massacre, which appears in the summary of a security discussion he held at the end of a full night with exceptional indications."

Netanyahu added and accused Bar of choosing to hide the main point from the public - the meeting summary. "It is my duty as Prime Minister to reveal to the public what Bar is hiding from them," Netanyahu claimed and quoted from the discussion summary. The full quotes were submitted in a sealed envelope to the court and are classified.

According to Netanyahu, Bar determined that they should prepare for "medium covert readiness" and "avoid extensive activity." These determinations were hidden from the court. If Bar had called on the IDF to prepare with "high readiness instead of medium and covert," Netanyahu said, "that would have directed all forces to the Gaza envelope, and if he had determined not to avoid extensive activity but the opposite, the massacre would have been prevented."

Netanyahu sharply criticized Bar, claiming he "did not wake up the system but completely put it to sleep and prevented significant action just to avoid miscalculation." Netanyahu continued: "Bar claims in his public affidavit that at 5:15 AM, at the end of the situation assessment, he instructed to update my military secretary alongside various other instructions. However, there is no trace of this 'instruction' in the meeting summary."