Netanyahu strikes back at ex-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar over Oct. 7 contact claims in lawsuit

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected former Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director Ronen Bar's allegation that he couldn't contact him on the morning of October 7, 2023, because "unlike previous prime ministers, he never provided the plaintiff with his personal telephone number."

The prime minister struck back at Bar on Wednesday, saying, "Ronen Bar, who saw the warning signs on the night of October 7 and didn't call me, says today that he didn't have my phone number. Ronen, are you serious? After all, you had my red phone number and could have called me immediately, as all heads of the security establishment do."

"The Shin Bet security detail, your subordinates who are with me 24/7, could have reached me within minutes. How many lives could we have saved if only you had called on time?" Netanyahu added in the X/Twitter post.

Bar's lawsuit stated that "It is worth noting that the prime minister did not get back to the head of the Shin Bet and did not intervene even after the massacre began."