Poll: 44% Believe Oct. 7 Massacre Was Preventable If Shin Bet Chief Had Woken Netanyahu
Translated & summarized from i24NEWS by baba
A poll by Direct Polls for i24NEWS found 44% of Israelis believe the October 7th attack was preventable if former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had alerted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The survey also revealed 63% think the massacre could have been avoided if Bar had heeded warning signs. These findings emerge amid a defamation lawsuit filed by Bar against Netanyahu over alleged false accusations regarding the attack.
The story in 6 lines · by baba
- 44% of Israelis believe the October 7th attack was preventable if Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had alerted PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
- 63% of respondents think the October 7th massacre could have been avoided if Bar had correctly interpreted warning signs.
- Former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar filed a defamation lawsuit against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The lawsuit alleges Netanyahu spread false accusations and a "blood libel" about the October 7th attack.
- The poll surveyed 512 adults on October 15, 2026, with a margin of error of 4.3%.
- Opposition supporters showed a similar trend, with 46% believing the attack was preventable.
A recent poll conducted by Direct Polls for i24NEWS indicates that 44% of Israelis believe the October 7th Hamas attack could have been prevented if former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar had alerted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The survey, released on Friday, also found that 42% of respondents disagreed, while 14% were unsure.
This poll follows a defamation lawsuit filed by Ronen Bar against Prime Minister Netanyahu. Bar alleges that Netanyahu spread false accusations regarding the October 7th attack. The lawsuit claims Netanyahu "spread a blood libel" against him.
In a separate question within the same poll, 63% of respondents felt that the October 7th massacre would have been prevented if Bar had correctly interpreted all the warning signs. Only 22% believed it would not have been prevented, with 15% undecided.
Among opposition supporters surveyed, 46% agreed that the massacre was preventable if Bar had correctly read the signs, while 34% disagreed and 20% were unsure.
The Direct Polls survey was conducted on October 15, 2026, with a sample of 512 adult respondents representing the general Israeli population. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.3% at a 95% confidence level.
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