The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked Friday, days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
“The Government unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to end ISA Director Ronen Bar’s term of office,” a statement said.
He will leave his post when his successor is appointed or by April 10 at the latest, the statement said.
Netanyahu on Sunday cited an “ongoing lack of trust” as the reason for moving to dismiss Bar, who joined the agency in 1993.
Bar, meant to end his tenure only next year, was appointed Shin Bet chief in October 2021 by the previous Israeli government that briefly forced Netanyahu from power between June 2021 and December 2022.
His relations with Netanyahu were strained even before the unprecedented October Hamas attack which sparked the war in Gaza, notably over proposed judicial reforms that had split the country.
Relations worsened after the March 4 release of the internal Shin Bet report on the Hamas attack.
It acknowledged the agency’s own failure in preventing the attack, but also said “a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup”.
Bar had already hinted that he would resign before the end of his term, taking responsibility for his agency’s failure to prevent the attack.
Bar’s dismissal provoked the anger of the opposition and led to demonstrations accusing Netanyahu of threatening democracy.
Several thousand people braved bad weather late Thursday to demonstrate outside Netanyahu’s private residence in Jerusalem and then the Israeli parliament, where ministers were meeting.
In a letter made public on Thursday, Bar said Netanyahu’s arguments were “general, unsubstantiated accusations that seem to hide the motivations behind the decision to terminate (his) duties”.
He wrote the real motives were based on “personal interest” and intended to “prevent investigations into the events leading up to October 7 and other serious matters” being looked at by the Shin Bet.
He referred to the “complex, wide-ranging and highly sensitive investigation” involving people close to Netanyahu who allegedly received money from Qatar, a case dubbed “Qatargate” by the media.
Bar’s dismissal comes after the Israeli army launched a series of massive and deadly bombardments on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, following a two-month truce and “targeted” ground operations.
Netanyahu said the operations were intended to put pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages remaining in the territory.
In rare criticism of Netanyahu, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Thursday that he was worried the resumption of strikes in a time of crisis could undermine “national resilience”.
