Former director of the Secret Service sues Netanyahu

O former director of the Shin Bet (Israel's secret services), Ronen Bar, filed a defamation suit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today reported to the Israeli press.

According to the action filed on Tuesday, Bar presented Netanyahu with dozens of alerts between November 2022 and the days preceding the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, led by the Palestinian Islamist Hamas movement, with the participation of other Gaza militias, which caused about 1,200 deaths and 251 hostages.

Bar sued Netanyahu after he accused him of committing crimes in the way he acted before the October 7 attack, which triggered the Israel war in the Gaza Strip hours later.

According to the Israeli daily Ynet, the documentation provided by the former head of internal intelligence is intended to demonstrate that the government received dozens of warnings about a possible escalation of Hamas' threat before the attack.

Bar also demanded, according to the newspaper, that the documents related to the facts be made public, with the aim of clarifying what information came to the authorities and how they reacted before the offensive.

“ In the absence of a state inquiry commission, the truth will come to the top in the courts,” said Shin Bet’s former head, quoted by Ynet.

In recent months, several Israeli media have accused Netanyahu of having been alerted to the attack before it occurred, both by the Government of the United Arab Emirates and by the Egyptian secret services, claims that the Israeli Prime Minister denies and classifies as “blood slanders”.

Although security agencies such as the Army and Shin Bet have conducted internal investigations into the security breach that led to the massacre, the Netanyahu Government has repeatedly blocked the creation of a state commission to investigate the attack.