The Prime Minister's Office released a statement denying most of the claims in Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar's affidavit, which he submitted to the court on Monday, accusing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of various offenses."Ronen Bar’s affidavit is riddled with falsehoods and highlights his failures," the statement started.
"Bar claims that on the night of October 7, he 'woke up the entire system.' However, he conveniently omits the fact that he did not alert the most critical figures: the prime minister and the defense minister. Had he done so, the massacre might have been prevented."
"Bar states that he instructed the prime minister’s military secretary to be alerted at 5:15 a.m. In reality, his chief of staff only contacted the military secretary at 6:13 a.m., just minutes before Hamas launched its attack. At that point, Bar had been in possession of information suggesting a possible attack for more than three hours," the statement continued.
"This timeline confirms the position of multiple government ministers: Bar failed catastrophically on October 7. That failure alone warrants his dismissal."
"Bar also conceals what he said just two days before the massacre, on October 5," the statement accused.
Bar's affidavit and the Israel-Hamas War
“Looking ahead, the renewal of understandings between Israel and Hamas, based on the principle of calm in exchange for easing restrictions, shows potential for maintaining stability in the Gaza Strip. Ronen Bar is the principal architect of this failure, and he must step down."
The statement also addressed claims about when Netanyahu made clear intentions to dismiss Bar.
"Without intending to, Bar’s affidavit also supports the government’s claim that plans to dismiss him were already made public in November 2024. This directly contradicts the attorney-general’s assertion that Bar’s firing in February was in response to the launch of the Qatargate investigation."
"The dismissal was not meant to block an investigation—on the contrary, the investigation was launched in an effort to prevent the dismissal."
"Contrary to Bar’s false claim, the prime minister never sought to delay his trial. In fact, the prime minister insisted it proceed without any postponement."
The statement also accused Bar of not taking significant action to suppress violent and dangerous rhetoric against the prime minister.
"The head of the Shin Bet failed miserably to address the incitement directed at Israel’s political leadership, including threats to assassinate the prime minister and incitement against government ministers."
"Bar failed to prevent violent protesters from launching flares at the prime minister’s residence in Caesarea—an incident that nearly killed a security guard and ignited the home."
"Throughout government and cabinet meetings, the prime minister and ministers repeatedly expressed concern that no enforcement action was being taken against the incitement and violence targeting them and their families. At no point did they call for illegal measures—only for equal enforcement under the law, which has yet to materialize," the statement claimed.
"Following these requests, the Shin Bet chief updated the prime minister on the agency’s actions regarding the matter," the statement concluded.
These statements were in direct response to Bar's affidavit, which said that Netanyahu was in fact warned ahead of time before the October 7 Hamas invasion, and that Netanyahu demanded loyalty from the Shin Bet over the court in the case of a constitutional crisis.
The affidavit also addressed Bar's dismissal and actions taken by the agency against violent rhetoric.