 "Netanyahu demanded personal loyalty before attempting to fire me, claims Shin Bet chief")
Ronen Bar, head of the country’s internal security agency Shin Bet, has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of firing him for refusing to prioritise loyalty to the prime minister over the judiciary and for resisting pressure to use the agency against anti-government protesters.
According to The Guardian report, Bar, the first Shin Bet director to be dismissed, alleged that his firing was motivated by Netanyahu’s “personal interests.”
The Supreme Court blocked the cabinet’s decision to remove Bar and is currently reviewing the case.
In a 31-page affidavit submitted to the court on Monday, Bar outlined his account of the escalating tensions with Netanyahu. Some sections of the document were classified due to national security concerns.
Among the most serious claims, Bar alleged that Netanyahu had repeatedly urged Shin Bet to conduct surveillance on citizens participating in protests against his government. He said the prime minister had ordered the agency to identify protest leaders and financial backers—requests Bar refused to carry out, reported The Guardian.
Bar also claimed Netanyahu pressured him to pledge loyalty to the prime minister over the High Court of Justice in the event of a constitutional crisis. He also alleged that attempts were made to coerce him into signing a document that would have helped Netanyahu avoid testifying in an ongoing corruption trial — an effort Bar said he resisted, added the report.
Bar alleged that Netanyahu would voice these demands at the ends of meetings, away from any official documentation.
“It was clearly intended to prevent any record of the conversation,” The Guardian quoted Bar as saying in the affidavit.
“To this day, the reason for my firing is not clear to me,” he said.
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More Shorts“But, the developments that took place over the last few months indicate one thing: at some point late last year, the decision to fire me was consolidated. It was not rooted in any professional metric, but out of an expectation by Netanyahu that I would be personally loyal to him,” he added.
Ahead of Monday’s court filing, reports emerged that Bar faced heavy pressure from Netanyahu’s government to drop his affidavit. He had initially been due to submit it on Sunday, but requested an extra day. It was also leaked to Israeli media that Bar intended to resign in mid-May, which was immediately denied by Shin Bet.
Netanyahu’s office dismissed Bar’s claims as “a complete lie,” vowing to refute the “false affidavit” in court by Thursday. Netanyahu accused Bar of politicising Shin Bet and claimed he had lost all trust in his leadership.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called Bar’s revelations proof that Netanyahu is a threat to national security and unfit to remain in office.
The fallout follows mounting tensions after Shin Bet admitted failures in preventing the October 7 Hamas attacks, while also blaming Netanyahu’s policies for enabling Hamas’s buildup. Netanyahu has refused to take responsibility for the attack, which left 1,200 dead and 251 taken hostage.
With inputs from agencies
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