Ronen Bar Sues Netanyahu for Defamation Over October 7

Ronen Bar, the former head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to court on Wednesday morning. He filed a defamation suit in the Central District Court over who bears responsibility for the October 7 massacre.

The filing alleges that Netanyahu was warned repeatedly in the months before October 7 of a possible escalation on several fronts, with special focus on the Gaza Strip and the Yamim Nora'im, The Jerusalem Post reported. The lawsuit adds that Bar put forward proposals to strike senior Hamas officials, and that the prime minister turned down both the warnings and the plans.

Bar submitted evidence to the court that he says shows he delivered two "dramatic series" of warnings to Netanyahu, in April and July 2023.

The suit insists that Bar is not trying to dodge responsibility. Its target is a set of statements by Netanyahu that it calls defamatory. The filing argues those statements were designed to shift the prime minister's own responsibility onto Bar.

Bar explained why he is acting now.

"I waited silently for three years for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, all while facing an ongoing smear campaign. In light of the prime minister's unrestrained outburst, I have decided not to remain silent."

In a statement issued on his behalf, Bar also owned his agency's failure. "As the head of the service, I bear responsibility for the Shin Bet's failure to provide the intelligence required regarding the October 7 attack and its timing," he said. "Accordingly, I resigned from my position, bowing my head before the bereaved families. We fought, eliminated senior Hamas officials in Gaza and Lebanon, and brought hostages home through daring Shin Bet operations and determined negotiations."

The suit arrives a week after a Channel 12 investigation aired last Wednesday night. That report found that after a March 19, 2023 warning letter from the head of Military Intelligence research at the time, then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Bar asked for an urgent meeting with Netanyahu. The request was declined.