Ex-Shin Bet Chief to Sue Netanyahu Over October 7 Blame

Good Morning, Israel · Tuesday, September 29, 2026 · 7:02

Episode 2 · Tuesday, September 29, 2026 · 7:02

Ex-Shin Bet Chief to Sue Netanyahu Over October 7 Blame

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0:007:02

1. Ex-Shin Bet Chief to Sue Netanyahu Over October 7 Blame
2. Netanyahu Meets UAE President in Abu Dhabi to Boost Ties
3. UAE Confirms Netanyahu Visit Amid Reports of Pre-War Hamas Attack Warning
4. Israel Summons Spanish Envoy Over Minister's 'River to the Sea' Comments
5. Israel Recalls Diplomats, Summons Envoys After European Actions
6. Netanyahu Denies Reports of UAE Visit Aimed at Denying Prior Warnings

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Maya

A former spy chief is taking the Prime Minister to court.

Daniel

And the charge is defamation, over who's to blame for October seventh.

Maya

This is Good Morning, Israel from baba News. It's Tuesday, September twenty-ninth. I'm Maya.

Daniel

And I'm Daniel.

Maya

Daniel, start with the lawsuit. Who's suing whom?

Daniel

Ronen Bar, the former head of the Shin Bet, is suing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic security service, roughly Israel's version of the F B I and M I five rolled into one.

Maya

And what's he accusing the Prime Minister of?

Daniel

Defamation. Netanyahu accused Bar of withholding information about the Hamas attack on October seventh. Bar denies it completely.

Maya

His version being?

Daniel

According to Bar, he warned Netanyahu that disaster was coming. And he says the Prime Minister is deflecting blame onto him.

Maya

So one man says, you hid it from me. The other says, I told you.

Daniel

Exactly. And that's why it matters. The Shin Bet is responsible for intelligence on Gaza. If its chief says he raised the alarm, that goes straight to the heart of the accountability debate.

Maya

Which, with an election coming, isn't going away.

Daniel

No. And a courtroom means testimony, documents, maybe things said under oath. That's very different from trading accusations on television.

Maya

Let's connect this to the trip we told you about yesterday. Netanyahu's secret visit to the United Arab Emirates. What's new?

Daniel

It's no longer a secret, for one. Both Israel and the U A E have confirmed that Netanyahu met the Emirati president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital.

Maya

And the official line on what they discussed?

Daniel

Strengthening bilateral ties and regional challenges. That's how both sides describe it.

Maya

But there's another version floating around.

Daniel

Right. There are reports that Netanyahu went to ask the Emirati president to deny that he ever warned Israel ahead of October seventh.

Maya

And how is the Prime Minister's office responding?

Daniel

Strongly. It denies the trip had anything to do with that. It says the visit was about the relationship, full stop.

Maya

So a trip that was meant to be quiet ended up at the center of the loudest argument in the country.

Daniel

Pretty much. And that brings us to the other twist, which is how the visit became public.

Maya

Channel twelve.

Daniel

Yes, one of Israel's main commercial television channels. The Shin Bet has filed a complaint against it for reporting on the visit while the Prime Minister's plane was still in the air.

Maya

Wait, while he was still flying?

Daniel

That's the point. According to the Shin Bet, publishing details at that stage created a severe security risk to the Prime Minister.

Maya

Protecting the Prime Minister is literally the Shin Bet's job.

Daniel

Exactly. And for a leader flying over a region where Iran and its proxies are active, the timing of what gets published really matters.

Maya

Now, we mentioned yesterday the report about Egypt. Any new layers?

Daniel

A few. The reports say Egypt's intelligence chief at the time, Abbas Kamel, warned Netanyahu of an imminent attack from Gaza days before October seventh.

Maya

And the claim is that it wasn't acted on.

Daniel

That's what the reports say. They describe warnings from both Egypt and the Emirates going unheeded, while Israel's attention was on a possible normalization deal with Saudi Arabia.

Maya

And the Prime Minister's side of it?

Daniel

Netanyahu has publicly backed journalist Ayelet Hason, who says the Egyptian warning reports are false. According to Hason, the Egyptian intelligence chief never met top Israeli officials.

Maya

So no meeting, no warning.

Daniel

That's her account. And the Prime Minister's office has repeated that there was no prior warning.

Maya

So that's three stories feeding one question.

Daniel

Right. Bar says he warned. The reports say Egypt and the Emirates warned. And Netanyahu's office says none of that happened the way it's being told. Voters will be weighing all of it.

Maya

Now, a story that's hard to hear. Israelis are being asked to pray for Neriah Leiter.

Daniel

Neriah is the son of Israel's Ambassador to the U S. He's in critical condition after a car-ramming attack, where a terrorist uses a vehicle as a weapon.

Maya

And this family has already been through so much.

Daniel

They have. They lost another son in the war. So the calls for prayer and support have spread very widely, in Israel and among Jewish communities abroad.

Maya

An ambassador represents the whole country, and now his family is grieving and waiting at a hospital bed. We'll bring you any update on his condition.

Daniel

We will.

Maya

Turning to Europe, and a diplomatic row with Spain.

Daniel

Israel summoned Spain's chargé d'affaires, that's the most senior Spanish diplomat in Israel right now, to protest comments by a Spanish minister.

Maya

What did the minister say?

Daniel

The minister voiced support for a Palestinian state from the river to the sea. The river being the Jordan, and the sea the Mediterranean.

Maya

Which covers all of Israel.

Daniel

Exactly. That's why Israel sees the slogan as a call to erase the country, not a call for peace. Many Israelis hear it as a chant used by Hamas supporters.

Maya

And the Foreign Ministry's response?

Daniel

It accused Spain of pursuing an anti-Israel policy. And there was a second complaint too, over a separate free Palestine comment from a Spanish minister.

Maya

This isn't the first clash with Madrid.

Daniel

Far from it. Relations have been deteriorating for a while, and this is the latest escalation. Israel's message is that a European government can't use language that denies Israel's right to exist and expect business as usual.

Maya

Quick round now, starting with the Netherlands, which we started to tell you about yesterday.

Daniel

Right. Israel revoked the diplomatic status of Dutch representatives in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority's seat of government.

Maya

And the reason?

Daniel

It's Israel's response to a Dutch ban on products made in Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank. Israel sees that kind of ban as singling it out.

Maya

And Britain's in the mix too.

Daniel

It is. Israel took similar steps against British and Spanish representatives. So it's not one spat, it's a pattern.

Maya

A tougher line with Europe, across the board.

Daniel

That's the message from Jerusalem. If European governments take steps against Israel, there'll be a diplomatic price.

Maya

And finally, back to that election letter business for a second. Only kidding, nothing new there.

Daniel

The alphabet is resting today.

Maya

So, one thing to watch. Whether Ronen Bar actually files his defamation suit, and what the Prime Minister's lawyers say back. Once it's in court, both men's accounts of October seventh go on the record.

Daniel

That's the one. And we'll be watching for news on Neriah Leiter too.

Maya

That's the show for today.

Daniel

Follow Good Morning, Israel so tomorrow's episode is waiting for you.

Maya

See you tomorrow morning.