 "Israeli Cabinet fires Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Netanyahu blames him for Oct 7 failure")
The Israeli Cabinet on Friday fired Ronen Bar, the chief of Shin Bet. This is for the first time in Israeli history that a premier has fired the head of the nation’s internal security agency.
Bar was part of the Israeli negotiating team that struck the deal with Hamas for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and release of hostages in January. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later removed him from the talks. The new team has not been able to reach any deal with Hamas so far.
Bar’s removal comes in the midst of a Shin Bet investigation into Netanyahu’s aides for taking bribes from Qatari officials. Separately, Netanyahu is also facing a corruption trial.
Bar did not attend the government meeting in which he was fired. Instead, he sent a scathing letter in which he said the firing was illegal and motives behind the act were “fundamentally flawed”. The case is likely to go the Supreme Court.
Bar’s removal comes at a time when Israeli society stands deeply divided. Under Netanyahu’s latest government, the most right-wing in Israel’s history, extremist elements have gained power and Netanyahu has consolidated power around him. If Bar’s firing is litigated in court, it would further inflame the tensions as Netanyahu’s followers have long blasted the country’s judiciary for interfering in the government’s work.
In a statement after the working, a spokesperson for Netanyahu blamed Bar for the October 7 attack.
The spokesperson said, “If Ronen Bar had carried out his role as he is currently clinging to his seat, we would not have reached October 7.”
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Ronen had the opportunity to retire with honour after his searing failure on October 7, as the outgoing Chief of Staff did. But Ronen Bar preferred not to attend the government meeting dealing with his case simply because he was afraid of giving answers and especially of answering one question: Why, after you knew about the Hamas attack many hours before it happened, did you do nothing and did not call the Prime Minister - something that would have prevented the disaster?” said the spokesperson.
In his response, Bar slammed what he called were government’s “unfounded claims that are nothing more than a cover for completely different, extraneous and fundamentally invalid motives designed to disrupt the ability of the Shin Bet to fulfil its role”, according to The Times of Israel.
Saying that Netanyahu was taking steps that weaken the country “both internally and against its enemies”, Bar said that as he and Netanyahu worked together to bring the ceasefire and hostage deal in January, there was no basis for Netanyahu to say that there is no trust between them, “except if the real intention, which I apparently failed to understand, was to negotiate without reaching a deal”. He further said that the decision to remove him and Mossad chief David Barnea from the negotiating team “harmed the team and did not advance the release at all”.
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