April 29 (UPI) — Israel’s head of domestic intelligence, Ronan Bar, announced his resignation five weeks after his firing by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was immediately blocked by the Supreme Court.
“After 35 years of service, in order to allow an orderly process for appointing a permanent successor and for professional handover, I will end my role on June 15,” Bar said Monday at a memorial event for the Israeli Security Agency, known as Shin Bet, which he has led for three-and-a-half years.
Bar told the gathering that all public officials who failed to stop the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel needed to follow his example, saying they must lower their heads “humbly before those who were killed, or wounded, or taken hostage, and act accordingly.”
The two men have been locked in a bitter feud since Netanyahu persuaded his cabinet to fire Bar on March 21 on the grounds that he no longer trusted him in the wake of an internal report in which Shin Bet admitted it had failed to prevent the Oct. 7 attacks but that the government also bore responsibility.
The High Court of Justice immediately issued an injunction, blocking the dismissal of Bar who was in the midst of a corruption investigation dubbed “Qatargate.”
The probe, ordered by the attorney-general, was looking into allegations that aides in Netanyahu’s office were employed by Qatar to lobby the Israeli government on behalf of the Persian Gulf emirate.
Bar and Netanyahu have both submitted conflicting affidavits to the court, Bar alleging Netanyahu had demanded he pledge loyalty to him personally — over the law of the land or the courts — and that the prime minister tried to leverage the intelligence agency’s capabilities for his personal and political benefit, including ordering it to spy on anti-government protesters.
Netanyahu’s affidavit, submitted Sunday, accuses Bar of being a liar.
“The accusation, according to which I allegedly demanded action against innocent civilians, or against a non-violent and legitimate protest during the protests of 2023, is an absolute lie,” he said.
Netanyahu also attacked Bar over security blunders in the run-up to Oct. 7, saying he bore “massive and direct responsibility” and had “failed in his role as chief of Shin Bet and lost the confidence of the entire Israeli government as far as his ability to continue to manage the organization.”
Israeli leaders’ response to Bar’s resignation were mixed, with President Isaac Herzog thanking him for his more than three decades of service but saying it was right that he was taking responsibility.
“There is no doubt that the proper way to fulfill our responsibility toward the bereaved families and the State of Israel as a whole must be through a broad and professional state commission of inquiry, which will thoroughly examine the failures and the lessons we must learn as a society that values life,” he said.
However, the Yesh Atid party-led opposition and the Democrats called for Netanyahu to follow Bar’s example and for fresh elections to be called.
“Ronen Bar made the right and appropriate decision. This is what taking responsibility looks like. Of those responsible for the greatest failure in the country’s history, only one remains holding on to the chair. The people of Israel deserve elections now,” opposition leader Yair Lapid wrote on X.
Yair Golan, the leader of the Democrats, defended Bar’s refusal to go quietly.
“Ronen Bar is a brave fighter, thousands of Israelis owe him their lives. In a normal situation, he should have resigned — but the situation is not normal. In a normal situation, a prime minister does not go against the head of the Shin Bet who begins investigating intimate suspicions against his entourage,” he said in a social media post.
“Thank you Ronen. Netanyahu, now it’s your turn.”
