Former Israeli intelligence chief Ronen Bar has sued Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for defamation, accusing him of ignoring warnings ahead of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and attempting to shift the blame for the security failures.
Bar, who headed Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency during the assault, filed the three-million-shekel (nearly $1 million) lawsuit on Wednesday.
Netanyahu had accused Bar of withholding intelligence and failing to alert troops or evacuate attendees of the Nova music festival. Bar rejected the allegations, arguing that Netanyahu was attempting to deflect responsibility for the attack, which left around 1,200 people dead and saw 251 taken hostage. Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza has killed more than 74,300 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
According to the lawsuit, Shin Bet officers began sharing intelligence about unusual Hamas activity with the military late on October 6 and issued a warning at 3:03 am. Netanyahu’s military secretariat was updated at 3:55 am, while Bar’s chief of staff briefed his military secretary shortly after 6 am. Bar denied speaking directly with Israel’s military chief or head of military intelligence that night, contrary to Netanyahu’s account.
Bar acknowledged that Shin Bet had failed to anticipate the scale and timing of the assault and provide adequate warnings. He accepted responsibility for those failures, which contributed to his resignation.
However, he maintained that Netanyahu had been repeatedly alerted to the risk. Bar cited a February 2023 letter warning that Israel’s internal divisions and instability in the Palestinian territories could embolden its adversaries. In July, he said he had personally raised the prospect of an attack, cautioning that intelligence agencies might not be able to predict it.
The filing describes further warnings in September and early October about Hamas’s growing capabilities. Bar also alleged that Netanyahu repeatedly rejected or delayed proposals to target senior Hamas figures, favoring a policy of “quiet at any cost” in Gaza.
According to the lawsuit, the prime minister continued allowing Qatari money into the enclave despite warnings that humanitarian funds were reaching Hamas’ military wing.
Netanyahu rejected the claims, saying Bar could have contacted him through a secure emergency line. Bar said Netanyahu never provided him with his personal phone number.
Netanyahu also said he had submitted nearly 1,000 documents challenging Bar’s account.
His government voted to dismiss Bar in March 2025, citing a loss of confidence. At the time, Shin Bet was investigating allegations that Netanyahu’s aides had promoted Qatari interests, which the office denied. Israel’s Supreme Court later ruled the dismissal unlawful, and Bar resigned in June.
The lawsuit follows reports that Netanyahu received advance warnings from foreign governments. Haaretz reported in September that UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed had alerted him to a potential major Hamas operation ten days before the assault. Netanyahu’s office dismissed the allegation as an “absolute lie.”
The Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal have separately reported warnings from Egyptian officials, while the New York Times revealed that Israeli intelligence had obtained a Hamas battle plan known as Jericho Wall more than a year earlier. Netanyahu has denied receiving warnings from Egypt or being shown the Hamas plan.
The political fallout comes ahead of Israel’s October 27 parliamentary elections, with Netanyahu accusing his critics of using the October 7 attack for political purposes.