Israel's former security chief sues Netanyahu over October 7 defamation claims

Israel's former domestic security chief Ronen Bar has filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over accusations linked to the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack. The case was lodged in Israel as the country heads toward its October 27 election, adding a new legal and political flashpoint to an already bitter dispute over responsibility for the deadliest attack in the country's history. Bar says Netanyahu made false claims about his conduct before the assault and used them to shift blame away from his own role.

Sponsored

According to the court filing, Bar is seeking three million shekels, or about $968,500, in damages. He accuses Netanyahu of "lying to cover himself" and says it was slanderous for the prime minister to describe him as responsible for "criminal failures" over the attack. Bar's filing says he telephoned the prime minister's military secretary as soon as signs of a possible attack became apparent, but did not have Netanyahu's direct number.

He also says the accusations were made "that he knew to be false" in order to divert attention from Netanyahu's own responsibility. Netanyahu has rejected Bar's account and said he was not alerted by Bar on the morning of the assault. In a statement issued by his Likud party, Netanyahu said Bar had his number on the "red line" and could have called immediately, arguing that lives might have been saved if he had done so.

The dispute centres on whether warnings were passed on in time and who bears responsibility for the security failures surrounding the early-morning attack. Bar resigned as head of Shin Bet in June 2025 amid recriminations over the attack, while maintaining that he had informed Netanyahu of the threat in advance. The lawsuit comes at a politically sensitive moment for Netanyahu, who is fighting for his political life in a close election campaign.

Sponsored

It also deepens a wider argument in Israel over the failures that allowed the Hamas-led assault to take place. Bar's filing says Netanyahu's policies over several years had increased the dangers posed by armed groups in Gaza, placing the case within a broader debate about security policy and decision-making before the attack. The timing means the case is likely to feed into public arguments over accountability, intelligence warnings and the conduct of senior officials.

The dispute has also been sharpened by claims from Netanyahu's former military secretary, Avi Gil, who said the prime minister's office had falsified records related to October 7, 2023, including altering the recorded time of a key phone call. That allegation was reported days before Bar's lawsuit and adds another layer of controversy around the official record of events. Together, the claims point to an increasingly contested narrative over what was known, when it was known and how the government responded as the attack unfolded.

What remains unclear is how the court will assess the competing accounts and whether the case will produce further disclosures about communications inside the prime minister's office and the security services. The lawsuit is likely to remain closely tied to the election campaign and to the broader question of who should be held accountable for the failures of October 7. For now, both sides are standing by sharply different versions of events, and the legal process is set to become part of Israel's wider political reckoning.

#RonenBar #BenjaminNetanyahu #ShinBet #defamationlawsuit #October7attack

Sponsored