Ronen Bar Sues Netanyahu for Defamation Over October 7 Claims as Israel's Election Looms

Israel's former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of spreading false claims about Bar's responsibility for the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack. The 134-page court document, submitted on Wednesday, alleges that Netanyahu deliberately lied to shield himself from accountability, and the timing could hardly be more politically explosive. With Israel's national election just two weeks away, the legal battle injects a fresh dose of drama into an already heated campaign.

The lawsuit centers on Netanyahu's repeated public assertions that he was never warned by Bar on the morning of the assault. According to the prime minister, had Bar or military leaders called to wake him, he could have intervened to stop the attack. Bar's legal team rejects that narrative outright, arguing that the prime minister's accusations were made "with the aim of diverting the debate from his own responsibility for the events of October 7." The filing describes the claims as slanderous and asserts that Netanyahu knew they were untrue when he made them.

Bar maintains that he contacted the prime minister's military secretary as soon as intelligence indicators of a possible attack emerged. However, he says he did not possess Netanyahu's direct number and therefore could not reach him personally. That detail strikes at the heart of the dispute—Netanyahu insists he was reachable and that a direct call could have changed the course of that day. Bar's suit seeks three million shekels, roughly $968,500, in damages from the prime minister.

The former security chief also argues that it was Netanyahu's own long-standing policies that created the conditions for the attack. According to the lawsuit, years of government decisions "increased the dangers posed by terrorist organisations in Gaza." This claim broadens the legal fight beyond the events of a single morning, turning it into a referendum on Netanyahu's broader approach to Gaza and Hamas during his time in office.

Netanyahu's Likud party fired back swiftly on Wednesday with a statement dripping with sarcasm. "Ronen, are you serious?" the statement read, before turning to a direct challenge: "You had my number on the red line and could have called me immediately, as all security chiefs do." The party then posed a pointed rhetorical question: "How many lives could we have saved if only you had called in time?" The response signals that Netanyahu intends to fight the allegations aggressively rather than settle or retreat.

Bar stepped down as head of Shin Bet in June 2025, following intense recriminations over the deadliest attack in Israel's history. Throughout his departure and afterward, he has consistently maintained that he had informed Netanyahu of the threat in advance. His resignation came amid a broader wave of scrutiny directed at Israel's security and political leadership for failing to anticipate the Hamas assault.

The lawsuit lands just days after another damaging revelation from within Netanyahu's own former inner circle. Avi Gil, who served as the prime minister's military secretary from July 2021 to May 2024, told Israel's Channel 12 that Netanyahu's office had "falsified records related to October 7, 2023." Gil specifically alleged that the recorded time of a key phone call was altered, and he said a stenographer in the prime minister's office approached him in January 2024 with instructions from Netanyahu's chief of staff to change the time of a four-minute call from 6:40am to 6:29am.

According to Gil, the stenographer refused to make the change, telling him, "I'm not allowed to change it." Gil accused the head of Netanyahu's office of manipulating telephone records and added bluntly, "Those are facts, and there is no dispute about them." These allegations, combined with Bar's lawsuit, paint a picture of an office under siege from former insiders willing to speak publicly about what they claim happened behind closed doors.

Further context comes from reporting by the Wall Street Journal last month, which said Netanyahu had been warned of the impending attack by Egypt's intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel. In an unusual direct intervention, Kamel reportedly called the prime minister just days before the assault. That call followed earlier warnings in September 2023, when Kamel is said to have traveled to Israel in person to tell security officials that Hamas was preparing an attack. These reports undercut Netanyahu's insistence that no such warnings reached him.

The political stakes are enormous. Polls indicate Netanyahu is locked in a tight race to remain in power in the October 27 election. He has been battered by criticism from former staff, government officials, and opposition figures who accuse him of failing to prevent the bloodshed. Each new allegation from a onetime ally or subordinate adds to the pressure, and Bar's lawsuit ensures the October 7 failures will remain at the center of the national conversation through election day.

The human toll of the attack remains staggering. According to Israeli official figures, at least 1,221 Israelis were killed on October 7, 2023, when Hamas fighters broke through the fence separating Israel from Gaza. Another 251 Israelis were taken captive, including the bodies of 44 people killed that day. Those numbers have shaped Israeli politics ever since, fueling demands for accountability and reshaping the country's security debate.

The consequences have extended far beyond Israel's borders. In the three years since the attack, Israel's military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,300 people, 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. Those figures continue to draw international scrutiny and complicate Israel's diplomatic position.

For Netanyahu, the defamation suit represents a rare direct legal confrontation with a former top security official. Bar's decision to seek damages rather than simply issue a public rebuttal raises the stakes, forcing the prime minister to defend his statements in court even as he campaigns for reelection. The case also guarantees that the question of who knew what, and when, will shadow every remaining day of the campaign.

The broader implication is that Israel's reckoning with October 7 is far from over. Instead of fading with time, the dispute has intensified, with former officials breaking silence and legal filings replacing quiet internal reviews. Whether voters punish Netanyahu or accept his version of events may determine not only his political future but also how the country ultimately assigns blame for its worst security failure in decades.

As the election approaches, the lawsuit and the allegations surrounding it are likely to dominate headlines and debates. Bar's claim that Netanyahu lied to protect himself, and Netanyahu's counter that Bar could have called but didn't, frame a stark choice for the electorate. The court filing ensures that this argument will not be settled quietly—it will play out in public, under oath, and in the full glare of a national campaign.