Netanyahu Advisor Slams Former Shin Bet Chief Over Defamation Lawsuit
Translated & summarized from Ice by baba
Yonatan Urich, an advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fiercely criticized former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar following Bar's defamation lawsuit against Netanyahu. Urich suggested Bar should admit fault for not alerting the Prime Minister about the October 7th disaster. Bar's lawsuit accuses Netanyahu of spreading a "blood libel" regarding prior knowledge of the attack. The controversy highlights differing accounts of warnings and information sharing before October 7th.
The story in 5 lines · by baba
- Yonatan Urich, Netanyahu's advisor, attacked former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar over a defamation lawsuit.
- Urich suggested Bar should admit fault for not alerting Netanyahu about the October 7th disaster.
- Bar's lawsuit accuses Netanyahu of spreading a "blood libel" about prior knowledge of the attack.
- The dispute centers on who knew what before the October 7th Hamas assault.
- Netanyahu claims security leaders did not update him on Hamas activity prior to the attack.
Yonatan Urich, a close advisor to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a key figure in the Prime Minister's Office's media and strategy operations, has publicly attacked former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. The attack came in response to a defamation lawsuit filed by Bar against Netanyahu. Urich, who has been at the center of recent media and legal controversies himself, including alleged involvement in a campaign to discredit Qatar and the leak of his WhatsApp messages, took to X (formerly Twitter) to dismiss Bar's legal action.
Urich suggested that instead of a defamation suit, Bar should have issued a statement admitting fault. He proposed a statement for Bar: "I apologize for not calling Prime Minister Netanyahu during the night, we could have saved many lives. I should have alerted the entire country when I knew the extent of the disaster, and I did not do so." Urich further sarcastically attributed to Bar the statement, "I know history will remember me as the most failed Shin Bet chief in Israel's history."
Bar's lawsuit alleges that Netanyahu "disseminated a blood libel claiming Bar 'knew' about the October 7th massacre, chose not to update, and withheld information." Sources close to Bar stated the lawsuit sheds light on a "rare sequence of warnings about an impending disaster" and accused Netanyahu of responsibility for the policy of containment and funding Hamas. Bar himself stated he resigned "with bowed head before the bereaved families" but decided not to remain silent against the incitement campaign targeting him.
The dispute touches upon the critical hours preceding the October 7th attack. Prime Minister Netanyahu has consistently claimed that the IDF and Shin Bet leadership did not wake him or update him in real-time about Hamas's unusual activity near the border. This issue of shared responsibility and information transfer was also a focus of Netanyahu's recent interview on Channel 14, where he continued to deflect claims against him, criticized security bodies, and opposed a state inquiry commission into the conduct of political and military leadership.
