Ronen Bar, the former head of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet, has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The case concerns Netanyahu’s claims about who bore responsibility for the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023. The filing was made on Wednesday, shortly before Israel’s tightly contested election on October 27, in which Netanyahu is fighting to keep his grip on power.
The timing is likely to intensify the political turmoil in the country. Bar’s 134-page court document accuses Netanyahu of “lying to cover himself” and says the prime minister defamed him by alleging “criminal failures” over the assault.
Bar disputes Netanyahu’s account of the warning
Bar says he phoned the prime minister’s military secretary as soon as signs of a possible attack emerged. He adds that he did not have Netanyahu’s direct phone number, so he could not reach him personally.
Netanyahu has maintained that Bar never alerted him on the morning of the attack. He has argued that he could have prevented it had the Shin Bet’s then-director or the military leadership called to wake him during the early hours.
On Wednesday, Netanyahu answered Bar’s accusations through a statement released by his Likud party. In it, he wrote, “Ronen, are you serious?” He added that Bar had his number on the red line and could have phoned him at once, as all security chiefs do, and asked how many lives might have been saved had Bar called in time.
Bar’s lawsuit alleges that Netanyahu made accusations he knew to be untrue in order to divert attention from his own role in the events of October 7. It contends that Netanyahu’s policies over several years had “increased the dangers posed by terrorist organisations in Gaza”. Bar resigned as Shin Bet chief in June 2025, amid recriminations over the deadliest attack in Israel’s history, while insisting he had warned the prime minister in advance. He is seeking three million shekels (about $968,500) in damages.
Former military secretary alleges altered phone records
The lawsuit follows days after Avi Gil, who served as Netanyahu’s military secretary from July 2021 to May 2024, made similar allegations. In an interview with an Israeli television channel, Gil said the prime minister’s office had “falsified records related to October 7, 2023”, including changing the recorded time of a key phone call.
Gil said a stenographer in the prime minister’s office approached him in January 2024 with instructions from Netanyahu’s chief of staff. The instructions were to alter the time of a four-minute call from 6:40am local time (03:40GMT) to 6:29am (03:29 GMT). Gil quoted the stenographer as saying, “I’m not allowed to change it”. He accused the head of the prime minister’s office of manipulating telephone records, adding, “Those are facts, and there is no dispute about them.”
Reported Egyptian warnings and the casualty toll
Last month, a US newspaper reported that Netanyahu had been warned of the attack by Egypt’s intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel. According to that report, Kamel phoned the prime minister just days before the assault. It also said he had flown to Israel in September 2023 to warn security officials in person that Hamas was planning an attack.
Polls suggest Netanyahu is locked in a close race to remain in office. He has faced criticism from former staff, government officials and the opposition for failing to prevent the bloodshed. Figures cited in the source include:
- At least 1,221 Israelis were killed on October 7, 2023, after Hamas broke through the fence separating Israel and Gaza, according to Israeli official figures.
- 251 Israelis were taken captive, including the bodies of 44 Israelis killed that day.
- Israel has killed more than 74,300 people in Gaza in the three years since, according to the Health Ministry in the enclave.
- More than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli attacks since a tentative US-backed “ceasefire” was reached last year.
