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Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will seek to dismiss the director of Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, through a cabinet vote later this week, in a move that will prompt further accusations of authoritarianism.
The Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Sunday that “ongoing distrust” made it impossible for him to continue to work with Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021.
Netanyahu said: “We are in the midst of a war for our very survival … At any time, but especially during such an existential war, the prime minister must have complete confidence in the director of the [Shin Bet]. Unfortunately, however, the situation is the opposite.”
It comes after an increasingly acrimonious dispute between the men over responsibility for the failures that allowed the surprise Hamas attack on 7 October 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza.
Shin Bet is responsible for monitoring Palestinian militant groups. It recently issued a report accepting responsibility for its failures around the attack but also criticised Netanyahu, saying government policies were among its causes.
Netanyahu has not accepted any responsibility for the attack, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to 251 being abducted, though he was prime minister at the time and has been in power for a total of 17 years.
Far-right allies of Netanyahu welcomed the move. Itamar Ben-Gvir, the former minister of national security, said it was “better late than never”. Cabinet loyalists rushed to welcome the prime minister’s “defence of democracy”.
But Yair Lapid, the leader of Israel’s opposition, promised to challenge Bar’s dismissal in the courts, and Ehud Barak, a former prime minister, said Netanyahu had “gone off the rails” and was “rebelling against the rule of law”.
The Israeli media has criticised Netanyahu for allowing substantial financial aid from Qatar to reach Hamas, in an apparent attempt to strengthen the Islamic militant group in Gaza as a rival to the Palestinian Authority based in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The tensions peaked this weekend when Bar’s predecessor, Nadav Argaman, said 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.
Shin Bet did not have an immediate response to Netanyahu’s announcement.
In a statement, Bar said the Shin Bet chief answered “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.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected calls for an official state commission of inquiry into the 2023 attack and has repeatedly sought to shift the failures on to the army and security agencies.
In recent months a number of senior security officials, including a former defence minister and army chief of staff, have been fired or forced to step down. Bar is one of the few remaining senior security officials since the attack to remain in office. If Bar is removed, Netanyahu is expected to appoint a loyalist in his place, slowing any momentum for the commission of inquiry.
Netanyahu said on Sunday that removing Bar would help Israel “achieve its war goals and prevent the next disaster”.
The prime minister has been angered by a Shin Bet investigation into members of his staff alleged to have earned substantial sums in dealings with Qatar. Lapid said Bar’s dismissal was aimed at sabotaging the inquiry.
Shin Bet, and Bar, have been closely involved with the hostage negotiations during the war in Gaza. Netanyahu recently removed Bar from the negotiating team and replaced him with a loyalist cabinet minister.
Efforts by Netanyahu and his allies to push through judicial changes, widely criticised as authoritarian, have been cited as one of many causes of the Hamas attack. The move polarised Israel’s politics in the months before and divided the country, weakening its defences, critics say.
