Netanyahu: Ronen Bar Never Called Him on October 7 Night

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly attacked Ronen Bar, who headed the Shin Bet on October 7. Netanyahu says Bar saw warning signs during the night before the Hamas massacre and never picked up the phone to alert him.

Netanyahu took direct aim at Bar's claim that he did not have the prime minister's phone number. He said Bar had access to his secure red phone. Bar could also have reached him through the Shin Bet security guards who stay with the prime minister around the clock, Netanyahu added.

"How many lives could we have saved if only you had called in time?" Netanyahu asked.

The dispute is over the hours before Hamas's attack on October 7. Netanyahu's position is that the head of the agency saw signs of trouble that night, and that a single call could have reached him.

The two men are already fighting in court over who bears responsibility for October 7.

Today, Bar filed a defamation suit against Netanyahu in the Central District Court. The suit alleges that Netanyahu was warned repeatedly in the months before the attack about possible escalation on several fronts, with particular focus on the Gaza Strip and the Yamim Nora'im.

According to the filing, Bar put forward proposals to strike senior Hamas officials, and Netanyahu rejected both the warnings and the plans. Bar submitted evidence that he says shows he delivered two "dramatic series" of warnings to the prime minister, in April and July 2023.