Netanyahu dropped the bombshell on Sunday: Ronen Bar, the head of one of Israel’s internal intelligence agencies, Shin Bet, would have to go. The reason, he said, was his “ongoing distrust” with Bar, adding that “this distrust has grown over time”. It was also part of Israel’s need to get rid of the officials who failed to prevent Hamas’s devastating October 7 attacks.
Read moreHamas terrorist attacks on October 7: The deadliest day in Israel’s history
Netanyahu said he would submit his motion to the government for a vote this week.
If Bar, who was appointed to the job in 2021, is dismissed, it would be a first in Israeli history. Opposition media, like Haaretz, said the motion – and the outcome of it – represents the greatest test of Israeli democracy since the war against Hamas broke out.
A question of ‘loyalty’
Netanyahu’s key ministers were quick to back the premier on his decision. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi even went as far as labelling Bar as a “dictator under a security guise”, that was seeking to undermine the prime minister’s authority.
Bar himself, however, gave another version of events, suggesting that Netanyahu was demanding personal loyalty to the extent that it risked overriding public interest.
Shin Bet’s loyalty, he insisted, was “first and foremost” to the people of Israel. “The prime minister’s expectation of a duty of personal loyalty […] is a fundamentally wrong expectation.”
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has herself been the target of Netanyahu’s dismissal threats, reacted by sending a letter to the prime minister, saying he would need to clarify the legal basis for his decision before taking any action. She also issued a stark warning, noting that “the role of the Shin Bet is not to serve the personal trust of the prime minister”.
The current power play between Netanyahu and the top members of the intelligence community underscores the frictions in the country.
On Tuesday, massive demonstrations were planned in Jerusalem to protest against Netanyahu’s bid to oust Bar.
No October 7 responsibility probe?
According to the experts FRANCE 24 has spoken to, Netanyahu’s bid to dismiss Bar is less about the Shin Bet’s inability to protect Israel from Hamas, and more about the prime minister’s own personal vendetta against the intelligence chief.
The first proof of that, said Clive Jones, director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (IMEIS) at Britain’s Durham University, is the timing.
“If Netanyahu was so dismayed by the performance of Shin Bet, why has he waited more than a year to call for Bar’s dismissal?” he asked.
The question becomes even more poignant when you look at the fact that Bar has already acknowledged that Shin Bet is partly to blame for Israel’s security failures in the wake of the Hamas attacks. He has also pledged to resign before his term runs out at the end of next year. But first, he has said he wants to ensure all remaining hostages in Gaza have been freed, and launch a major public enquiry into which Israeli officials should bear responsibility for the October 7 attacks.
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Amnon Aran, a professor of international politics at City University in London, said that the investigation Bar wants to launch is something Netanyahu would rather do without.
“Netanyahu does make a reasonable argument that this is not the time to start a national inquiry,” he said, noting that it would become a distraction while Israel is still very much at war. But the more serious question, he said, “is the fact that he’s not even willing to commit to a public national inquiry once the war ends”.
Ahron Bregman, a political scientist and specialist in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at King’s College in London, has made the same observation. “Bar advocates for a State Commission of Inquiry into the October 7 disaster, which Netanyahu opposes, fearing – correctly – that he will bear responsibility for it.”
Aviva Guttmann, an intelligence agency expert who has worked on the Israeli security debacle at Aberystwyth University in Wales, said that by dismissing Bar, Netanyahu can make the inquiry seem obsolete. “Bar is one of the last ones still in power who has taken responsibility for the October 7 attacks,” he said. “And by removing the head of Shin Bet, Netanyahu will be able to say: ‘everybody who took responsibility has now been removed from power. So we don’t need to have an investigation anymore’.”
Bregman agreed that it is a way for the prime minister to deflect “blame away from himself”.
Quatargate and the confidential document leak
But there are other Shin Bet probes in the making that are likely causing the Israeli head of government a headache or two.
The first one is Qatargate. Shin Bet is currently investigating three close Netanyahu associates for allegedly accepting money from Qatar to improve the kingdom’s image in Israel ahead of the 2022 World Cup – all the while performing their official duties in the government.
“The decision by Netanyahu to try and fire Bar comes only after this investigation into these individuals opened,” Jones noted.
The second probe was launched in November, and looks into accusations that a Netanyahu spokesman leaked classified documents to a German media outlet, thereby “endangering national security”, according to Haaretz.
Acting like Trump
Guttmann said that by attempting to replace a top intelligence official like Bar with someone deemed more loyal and less of a threat, Netanyahu is in fact acting very “Trumpian”.
Aran said it was also important to look at the wider context of things, taking into account that Netanyahu in November decided to dismiss his critical defence minister Yoav Gallant, and his more recent push to try to oust the attorney general.
In short, Netanyahu is trying to get rid of those who can limit his power, he said.
Bregman warned that: “The Israeli public, if it fails to wake up and resist the sacking of those whose task is to protect Israeli democracy, will soon find itself living in a place resembling Hungary or Turkey.”
Aran added that a dismissal of Bar, the boss of one of Israel’s most important intelligence agencies, also comes with a serious national security risk. “Shin Bet is not only significant for the Israelis in terms of the Gaza Strip. There has also been an escalation of what’s happening of the operations in the West Bank,” he said, noting that to do his job properly, the head of the agency needs to have a good working relationship with the head of the government.
The problem, Guttmann concluded, is that if Netanyahu and his cabinet “completely mistrust” Shin Bet, and ignore their intelligence reports “then their work is almost useless”.
This article was translated by Louise Nordstrom from the original in French.
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