Channel 14 Host Slams Ex-Shin Bet Chief Over Oct. 7 Failures

Channel 14 presenter Erel Segal harshly criticized former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Wednesday, accusing him of "criminal negligence" on October 7th and stating Bar "should sit in jail." Segal claimed that if he were the father of a fallen soldier from the Golani Brigade, he would "chase him to his last day."

Segal alleged that Bar "acted alone" and "abandoned" Israeli communities, the Nova music festival, and Golani soldiers, suggesting that if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been alerted, the events might have unfolded differently. This criticism follows a report from Kan 11 last week revealing a direct, secret communication channel between Israel and Hamas during the war.

This channel included phone calls between then-Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and a senior Hamas official, Raazi Hamed. The existence of these calls was unusually permitted for publication by the censor only recently. Sources familiar with the matter indicated that this direct line was intended to clarify points of contention during hostage release negotiations.

According to these sources, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya both approved the establishment of this secret channel. While Bar and Hamed spoke several times, the sources emphasized that the hostage deal was ultimately not achieved through this direct channel but rather through the efforts of mediating countries.