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Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would sack his domestic spy chief, one of the last security officials still in post since Hamas’s October 7 attack, in a move set to deepen a crisis between Israel’s prime minister and the country’s legal authorities.
Netanyahu informed Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet intelligence agency, in a tense meeting that he was removing him from the post, contingent on a government decision later in the week.
In a recorded video statement, the prime minister said that he had “a continuing lack of confidence” in Bar that “only grew with time”.
“I am convinced that this step is crucial in order to restore the organisation, to achieve all of our war objectives, and to prevent the next tragedy,” Netanyahu added, an allusion to Shin Bet’s role in the massive intelligence failure that led to Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
But the intended sacking of Bar is likely to further deepen the divisions between Netanyahu and the country’s top legal officials.
Attorney-general Gali Baharav-Miara said in a statement on Sunday directed at Netanyahu that he could not fire Bar “until the factual and legal basis underlying your decision and your ability to deal with this matter is clarified”.
Tensions between Netanyahu and Bar have grown in recent weeks due to the agency’s investigation into alleged lobbying work previously undertaken by aides in the prime minister’s office on behalf of Qatar.
Netanyahu also recently removed both Bar and the head of the Israel’s foreign spy agency Mossad, David Barnea, from the team tasked with negotiating a ceasefire-for-hostage deal with Hamas in Gaza, claiming that they were taking a soft line in the talks and leaking unflattering details about the government’s position to the media.
Netanyahu has attempted to deflect blame for the surprise assault by the Palestinian militants on to his security chiefs.
The defence minister at the time, Yoav Gallant, was sacked last November, while military chief Herzi Halevi was forced out earlier this month.
Both officials, as well as Bar, publicly took responsibility for their roles in the worst security failure in the country’s history and stated their intention to step down when the time was appropriate.
Netanyahu, for his part, has for more than 17 months refused to shoulder any blame, resign or set a date for new elections.
In a defiant statement later on Sunday, Bar said his public duty required him to “continue in my position in the near future” due to the possibility of renewed hostilities in Gaza, the ongoing hostage talks and the need to “complete a number of sensitive investigations”.
He also laid blame for the October 7 attack at the foot of the Netanyahu government, which according to Bar, set policy on Hamas in Gaza for years before the assault and disregarded Shin Bet’s warnings.
“The duty of trust owed by the head of Shin Bet is first and foremost to the citizens of Israel . . . the prime minister’s expectation of a personal duty of trust whose purpose contradicts the public interest is a fundamentally wrong expectation,” Bar added.
Government ministers lauded the premier’s move, calling it long overdue, while opposition politicians slammed it as undemocratic and illegal.
“Netanyahu fired Ronen Bar for only one reason: the ‘Qatar-gate’ investigation . . . Netanyahu has once again put his private interests above the good of the country and its security,” Yair Lapid, opposition leader, wrote on social media platform X, adding that he would petition the Supreme Court to overturn Bar’s removal.
Netanyahu’s cabinet this month began formal proceedings to fire Baharav-Miara herself, and have already indicated that they do not recognise the authority of the newly appointed chief justice of the Supreme Court and his bench to adjudicate on constitutional matters.
In the run-up to the Hamas attack where militants killed 1,200 people and took 250 hostage, Israel had seen nine straight months of mass street protests over Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judicial institutions.
Critics of the reform termed it a power grab by the executive branch that would undermine the authority of the courts and legal officials.
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