Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar announced Monday evening that he has instructed his attorneys to file a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while demanding comprehensive disclosure of documents.
Bar is demanding the release of Netanyahu’s schedule of meetings with the security establishment and foreign officials in the period preceding the attack, as well as all protocols and warnings that were conveyed to him. Bar also intends to summon members of Netanyahu’s staff and aides to testify.
A statement on Bar’s behalf said that the Prime Minister is conducting an “unrestrained campaign of incitement with no basis in reality" in an effort to deflect criticism from himself, while selectively publishing portions of documents in a manipulative manner and out of context.
The statement added that Bar initially believed it was appropriate to wait for the establishment of a state commission of inquiry, but in light of what it described as the distortion of facts and dissemination of misleading information, the decision was made to pursue legal action in order to “defend the truth, the memory of the fallen, and the honor of Shin Bet personnel."
Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a statement on X in which he said that he had instructed his attorneys to file a defamation lawsuit following media reports that he had received a warning from former Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel prior to October 7. Netanyahu clarified that he neither met nor spoke with Kamel in the months preceding the disaster and that no Israeli intelligence official conveyed such a warning to him.
In his statement, Netanyahu sharply criticized the former Shin Bet chief and the media, claiming that this was a “vile and deceitful campaign intended to shift all of Ronen Bar’s failures and crimes on the eve of October 7 onto the Prime Minister."
Netanyahu claimed that on the night of October 7, Bar held numerous conversations with then-IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Military Intelligence chief Aharon Haliva regarding the warning signs, but nevertheless “decided not to call and update the Prime Minister, not to warn the civilian security squads and IDF forces in the field, and not to evacuate the Nova festival."