Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s rise from Sayeret Matkal to leading Israel’s security agency, navigating political shifts and key operations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he’s planning to fire Ronen Bar, the head of the domestic security service Shin Bet, with whom he’s quarreled over responsibility for the Oct. 7 attack,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday his intention to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, bringing to a head months of growing disagreements between the two men.The premier summoned Bar for an urgent meeting in his office on Sunday evening,

The move marked an unprecedented standoff between the country’s political leadership and its top security agency, raising the possibility of a constitutional crisis.

The post Netanyahu announces intention to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar this week appeared first on The Times of Israel.

Ronen Bar has claimed that Netanyahu repeatedly ignored agency warnings in the year leading up to Hamas attack

Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar, on Sunday night, partially accepted and partially rejected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to fire him as head of the agency.He said he would resign early, but only after further progress on returning Israeli hostages, finishing the Qatargate probe, and preparing his successor to take over.Bar's response is as unprecedented as Netanyahu's move to remove him around 18 months early and could lead to a constitutional crisis.According to Bar, since he has said he would quit early due to his failure to prevent Hamas's October 7 invasion, there was no need for Netanyahu to fire him other than to politicize the organization and avoid his own responsibility for October 7 and for Qatargate.In Qatargate, senior Netanyahu aides were allegedly paid by Qatar at the same time as handling sensitive hostage negotiations policy for the prime minister also connected to Qatar.Normally, the police investigate alleged crimes, but given the national security dimensions, the Shin Bet has taken the lead.Bar said that Netanyahu had bridled at the recent agency report in which 90% enumerated its own failures, but a small portion explicitly highlighted Netanyahu's failure to heed warnings of policy decisions he was making which the Shin Bet said would endanger Israeli national security.PM might need A-G's supportIn normal circumstances, the Shin Bet chief serves five years, but also the prime minister has the discretion to fire him, however rare that might be.However, if Bar refuses to abide by Netanyahu's order to step down, the prime minister might need Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara or the High Court of Justice to intercede on his behalf, both of which might look askance at removing Bar at least before he completes the Qatargate probe.The Shin Bet chief also restated his position that netanyahu is not free to appoint anyone to lead the agency, but that he must follow custom to appoint one of the recent two deputy chiefs, either M, or the current deputy chief who succeeded M.Further, Bar said that if he submitted to Netanyahu's loyalty test, he would fail his higher calling as a public servant to Israeli law and to the Israeli public.The Shin Bet chief has taken a more confrontational posture toward Netanyahu than outgoing IDF chief Herzi Halevi, who appeared to try harder to keep their disagreements behind closed doors and who complied with Netanyahu's wish that he quit on March 5 after about a month of delay.

Announcing his intention to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plunged Israel back into the constitutional crisis he created in early 2023 with his bid to neuter the judiciary and to concentrate control of all branches of government in his own hands.