A statement on behalf of former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar:

Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar intends to file a defamation lawsuit against Benjamin Netanyahu and is demanding the disclosure of testimony and documents related to information provided to the prime minister before October 7.

Bar is demanding the disclosure of documents and Netanyahu’s schedule of meetings with the security establishment and foreign officials. He will summon as witnesses members of Netanyahu’s staff and aides who assisted, and continue to assist, him in what Bar describes as a manipulative campaign.

Prime Minister Netanyahu has launched an unrestrained campaign of incitement, detached from reality, against the former head of the Shin Bet. After refusing for three years to acknowledge his responsibility and preventing the public, by every means possible, from obtaining a state commission of inquiry, he has begun selectively publishing documents in a manipulative manner and presenting them in a way that reverses their true context. Now, as evidence of warnings he received before the massacre begins to emerge, he is trying to deflect criticism from himself by leveling accusations against the person who warned him in real time.

It is no surprise that, as will become clear, in his role as head of the Shin Bet, Bar warned the prime minister, in an unprecedented manner, of an impending disaster, and that the prime minister ignored these warnings, as well as recommendations to restore deterrence and strengthen the border.

Until now, Ronen Bar believed it was appropriate to wait for the establishment of the commission to which the public and the bereaved families are entitled. However, this stream of lies cannot be allowed to continue.

Lies, distortion of facts, manipulation of official records, and dissemination of misleading information to the public—this is what the prime minister is doing as the extent of the warnings he received before the October 7 massacre begins to come to light.

Accordingly, the former Shin Bet chief has instructed his lawyers to file a defamation lawsuit against the prime minister and to summon as witnesses anyone who distorted or misrepresented documents or disseminated false and defamatory information about him.

Ronen Bar calls on the prime minister to immediately disclose all the documents so that the public can learn the full truth, without manipulation.

A defamation lawsuit and the disclosure of the truth that follows are also important in order to protect the memory of the fallen, the dignity of Shin Bet personnel who have been fighting in the shadows for the past three years, and the truth—which the prime minister is attempting to distort through a campaign of incitement against the heads of Israel’s security establishment.

Victory is achieved through a preemptive strike against the enemy outside, not against the security forces at home.