The head of Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, was sacked yesterday, days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he no longer trusts him, and fallout from a report on the Oct. 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 is to leave his post when his successor is appointed by April 10 at the latest, the statement said.
Photo: AFP
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 Hamas attack which sparked the war in Gaza, notably over proposed judicial reforms that had split the nation.
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 late on Thursday braved bad weather 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 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 on Thursday said that he was worried the resumption of strikes in a time of crisis could undermine “national resilience.”
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a