Ronen Bar, the former director of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency, has initiated a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The 134-page court filing follows ongoing public friction between the two regarding the events of October 7, 2023, with Bar accusing the Prime Minister of fabricating narratives to shield himself from accountability. According to bar’s lawsuit, Netanyahu made accusations “that he knew to be false, with the aim of diverting the debate from his own responsibility for the events of October 7”.
The legal action centers on Netanyahu’s characterization of Bar’s performance as involving “criminal failures.” In his complaint, Bar argues that the Prime Minister has engaged in “lying to cover himself,” specifically by claiming he was never alerted by the agency regarding a potential incursion on the morning of the assault. Bar contends that he reached out to the Prime Minister’s military secretary immediately upon identifying potential threats, noting that he did not possess a direct line to Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s Likud party responded to the filing with a statement questioning the former chief’s actions. The Prime Minister suggested that security leaders had access to a “red line” telephone, arguing that a timely call could have altered the outcome of the attack. Bar, who resigned from his post in June 2025, maintains that the Prime Minister’s current rhetoric is an attempt to divert political scrutiny from his own responsibility for the security lapse. “You had my number on the red line and could have called me immediately, as all security chiefs do,” Netanyahu asked, adding, “How many lives could we have saved if only you had called in time?”. While insisting he had informed Netanyahu of the threat in advance, bar resigned as head of Shin Bet in June 2025 amid recriminations over the deadliest attack in Israel’s history.
The litigation emerges just weeks before Israel’s October 27 election, a contest where the incumbent Prime Minister is struggling to maintain his political standing amid intense criticism. Bar is seeking 3 million shekels—approximately $968,500—in damages. The lawsuit also alleges that Netanyahu’s policy decisions over several years actively increased regional security dangers. The case filed on Wednesday is set to ramp up the country’s political drama, coming just before Israel’s close-fought October 27 election in which Netanyahu is fighting for his political life. After being hammered by former staff and government officials as well as the opposition for failing to prevent the bloodshed, polls show Netanyahu is in a tight race to stay in power in the October 27 election.
Tensions in the Prime Minister’s office have been further exacerbated by allegations from Avi Gil, Netanyahu’s former military secretary from July 2021 to May 2024. Gil recently claimed that staff were directed to manipulate official records, including changing the timestamp of a critical 6:40am phone call on the morning of the attack to 6:29am. Gil described the directive as a clear instance of record tampering. The allegations in Bar’s lawsuit come days after Netanyahu’s former military secretary, Avi Gil, told Israel’s Channel 12 that the prime minister’s office had “falsified records related to October 7, 2023”, including altering the recorded time of a key phone call.
Further compounding the political pressure, reports have indicated that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel warned Netanyahu of a potential Hamas operation days before the October 7 breach. These claims follow earlier warnings from September 2023, when Kamel reportedly traveled to Israel to personally alert security officials to rising risks.
According to official Israeli figures, the October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of at least 1,221 individuals, while 251 people were taken captive, including the bodies of 44 victims. In the subsequent three years of conflict, the Gaza Health Ministry reports that over 74,300 people have been killed in the enclave. Following a tentative US-backed ceasefire last year, more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed during ongoing military operations.
