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Netanyahu Seeks to Dismiss Shin Bet Chief
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, amid a dispute over responsibility for the 2023 Hamas attack in Gaza.
ISRAEL 04.12.2021 Photo by Staff Sgt. Jackie Sanders Office of the Secretary of Defense Public Affairs
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday that he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week. Netanyahu cited "ongoing distrust" as the reason for his decision, stating that he cannot continue to work with Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021.
The move comes amid an increasingly acrimonious dispute between Netanyahu and Bar over responsibility for the failures that allowed the surprise Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in Gaza. Shin Bet is responsible for monitoring Palestinian militant groups and recently issued a report accepting responsibility for its failures around the attack, but also criticized Netanyahu, saying government policies were among its causes.
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Netanyahu has not accepted any responsibility for the attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to 251 being abducted. Far-right allies of Netanyahu welcomed the move, with Itamar Ben-Gvir, the former minister of national security, saying it was "better late than never." However, opposition leader Yair Lapid promised to challenge Bar's dismissal in the courts, and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Netanyahu had "gone off the rails" and was “rebelling against the rule of law.”
The tensions between Netanyahu and Bar peaked over the weekend, with Bar's predecessor, Nadav Argaman, saying he would release sensitive information about Netanyahu if the prime minister was found to have broken the law. Netanyahu accused Argaman of blackmail and filed a police complaint.
Bar responded to Netanyahu's announcement, saying that the Shin Bet chief answers "first and foremost to the citizens of Israel" and that Netanyahu's "expectation of a personal loyalty contradicts the public interest and is fundamentally flawed." Bar also appeared to add his voice to calls for a full commission of inquiry into the 2023 attack.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for an official state commission of inquiry and has sought to shift the failures onto the army and security agencies. If Bar is removed, Netanyahu is expected to appoint a loyalist in his place, slowing any momentum for the commission of inquiry.
