Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced tonight that he will dismiss the head of the internal security service (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, citing a "lack of trust" as the reason.
"I have decided to propose to the government the termination of the Shin Bet chief's mandate," Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office, stressing the need to "restore the organization, achieve all war goals and prevent the next catastrophe," in reference to the attack by the Palestinian Hamas movement on October 7, 2023.
"At all times, and especially during such an existential war, there should be complete trust between the prime minister and the Shin Bet chief," Netanyahu said in a statement to "the citizens of Israel."
"Unfortunately, it's the opposite. I don't have that kind of trust," Netanyahu added, noting that this "lack of trust has grown over time."
The prime minister on Thursday accused Barr, who was appointed in 2021 and is due to leave office in 2026, of being behind a "campaign of threats and leaks" aimed at "preventing him from making decisions necessary to rebuild the Shin Bet."
Relations between the two were strained before Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in part due to proposed judicial reform that had sparked mass protests several months earlier.
Their relationship became unbearable after an internal investigation report was released on March 4 in which the Homeland Security Agency admitted to failures in gathering intelligence that could have alerted authorities to the scale of the unprecedented attacks on Israel.
The report also criticizes the executive branch, and indirectly Netanyahu, assessing that "(Israel's) policy of appeasement has allowed Hamas to build an impressive military arsenal."
The two officials also disagree on the next Shin Bet chief. Ronen Bar wants his current deputy to succeed him, as is customary, while Netanyahu wants to have control over the appointment.
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