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Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would dismiss his domestic spy chief, one of the last security officials still in office since the attack on Hamas, on October 7, in a decision to strengthen a crisis between the Israeli Prime Minister and the country’s judicial authorities.
Netanyahu informed Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet Intelligence Agency, during a tense meeting that he withdrew him from the post, subject to a government decision later in the week.
In a registered video statement, the Prime Minister said he had “a lack of continuous confidence in the bar which” only growed over time “.
“I am convinced that this step is crucial to restoring the organization, achieving all of our war objectives and preventing the next tragedy,” added Netanyahu, an allusion to the role of Shin Bet in the failure of the massive intelligence which led to the attack on October 7, 2023 of Hamas against the south of Israel.
But the planned dismissal of the bar is likely to further deepen the divisions between Netanyahu and the best legal officials in the country.
Lawyer Gali Baharav-Miara Said in a statement on Sunday towards Netanyahu that he could not dismiss the bar “until the factual and legal basis underlying your decision and your ability to deal with this case is clarified”.
Tensions between Netanyahu and Bar have increased in recent weeks due to the agency’s investigation into the presumed lobbying work previously undertaken by employees of the Prime Minister’s office on behalf of Qatar.
Netanyahu also recently abolished the bar and head of the Israel foreign spy agency, Mossad, David Barnea, of the team responsible for negotiating a cease-fire agreement for the host with Hamas in Gaza, claiming that they took a soft line in talks and the flight of unflattering details on the position of the government in the media.
Netanyahu attempted to divert the blame for the surprise assault of Palestinian activists on its security leaders.
The Minister of Defense at the time, Yoav gallantwas dismissed last November, while the military chief Herzi Halevi was forced to go out earlier this month.
The two officials, as well as Bar, publicly took responsibility for their roles in the worst failure of the country’s history and declared their intention to resign when the time was appropriate.
Netanyahu, for her part, has refused for more than 17 months to win any blame, resign or set a date for new elections.
In a provocative declaration later Sunday, Bar said that its public duties had forced him to “continue in my position in the near future” due to the possibility of renewing hostilities in Gaza, current hostage talks and the need to “carry out a certain number of sensitive investigations”.
He was also blamed for the attack on October 7 at the foot of the government of Netanyahu, which, according to the bar, has established a policy on Hamas in Gaza for years before the assault and did not respect the warnings of Shin Bet.
“The duty of confidence due by the chief of Shin Bet is above all to the citizens of Israel. . . The Prime Minister’s expectation of a personal duty of confidence, the aim of which contradicts the public interest is a fundamentally bad expectation, “added Bar.
Government ministers welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision, describing him to suffer for a long time, while opposition politicians criticized him as undemocratic and illegal.
“Netanyahu dismissed Ronen Bar for one reason: the” Qatar-Gate “investigation. . . Netanyahu once again put her private interests above the property of the country and his security, “wrote Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, on the X social media platform, adding that he would ask the Supreme Court to overthrow the abolition of bar.
Netanyahu’s cabinet this month has started official procedures to draw Baharav-Miara itself and have already indicated that they do not recognize the authority of the new chief judge of the Supreme Court and its bench to rule on constitutional issues.
In view of the attack on Hamas, where activists killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostages, Israel had seen nine consecutive months of street demonstrations in Mass Street against the Netanyahu plan to revise the country’s judicial institutions.
The criticisms of the reform qualified him to seize power by the executive power which would undermine the authority of the courts and legal officials.
