Former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday, accusing him of falsely blaming Bar alone for the failures that enabled the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Bar is seeking 3 million shekels ($970,000) in damages.

The lawsuit concerns Netanyahu’s Sept. 28 post on X denying a Wall Street Journal report that Egypt’s then-intelligence chief, Abbas Kamel, had called him days before the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack to warn of an impending assault. More than 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led onslaught, while 250 were taken captive to Gaza. 

Shifting blame