Families bereaved by the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel expressed outrage Thursday at the revelation that Ronen Bar, who was at the helm of the Shin Bet security service at the time of the attack, is part of an initiative to establish a school for political leadership at an Israeli university.

The families insisted that anyone who holds responsibility for not preventing the attack cannot be entrusted to shape the future leaders of the country.

During the October 7 onslaught, Hamas-led terrorists who burst into the country from the Gaza Strip killed some 1,200 people and abducted 251. It was the single deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust and the worst disaster in modern Israeli history. It triggered a war that lasted for two years.

The families’ response came the day after the Kan public broadcaster reported on Bar’s plan to help co-found the school in cooperation with Reichman University, a private academic institution in Herzliya.

In a follow-up report on Thursday, Kan said that Bar is interested in bringing on board, alongside himself, former senior officials from the defense establishment as well as former minister Shai Piron and former MK Roy Folkman.

Those behind the project envision it as being similar to other leadership schools around the world, forming partnerships and cooperation with top universities. It would grant those who complete the program an academic degree, the report said.

Shelly Meshel-Yogev, mother of Libby Cohen Meguri, who was among more than 360 people murdered by terrorists at the Nova music festival during the Hamas attack, slammed Bar’s role in the school.

“Can Ronen Bar open a course on leadership? What sort of leadership and leader is it suitable for him to lead and teach?” she said to Kan. “The same goes for the prime minister and [Aharon] Haliva,” she added, referring to the former IDF intel chief.

“I expect Haliva to come and sit with us at home… and say ‘I am choking........

© The Times of Israel