Benjamin Netanyahu says of Oct 7 attack: Shin Bet guards "could have reached me within minutes"

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected former Shin Bet director Ronen Bar’s assertion that he could not reach Netanyahu on the morning of the October 7, 2023, attack because Netanyahu had not given him a personal phone number. In a Wednesday post on X, Netanyahu said Bar had seen warning signs that night, possessed a direct line, and could have been contacted promptly by Netanyahu’s Shin Bet guards; he questioned whether an earlier call would have altered the outcome. Bar’s lawsuit says Netanyahu did not respond to the Shin Bet leader or intervene once the attack was under way, and presents evidence that the agency circulated warnings to security bodies from 3:03 a.m. Bar has said he bears responsibility for the Shin Bet’s intelligence failure. The dispute has prompted calls for a state commission of inquiry into October 7.