Yesterday evening, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar announced that he would step down on June 15. Speaking at an event commemorating fallen Shin Bet operatives, and referring to the failures leading up to the October 7 2023 attack by Hamas, Bar said, “As the person at the head of the organization I took responsibility, and now, on the evening that represents memory, heroism, and sacrifice, I have chosen to announce the realization of that acceptance of responsibility, and have decided to leave my post as the head of the Israel Security Agency.”
Bar made his announcement against a background of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempt to remove him on the grounds of “loss of faith” in him, and the contradictory affidavits submitted by him and Netanyahu to the High Court of Justice arising from the petitions brought by various organizations against Netanyahu’s move. Bar accused Netanyahu of dismissing him on extraneous grounds, after he refused to display personal loyalty to the prime minister and to accede to his requests. This week, Netanyahu filed an affidavit on his own behalf alleging that Bar had lied in his affidavit, stressing his responsibility for the events of October 7, and stating that he had no confidence in him.
“My love for the country and loyalty to it have been the basis for every decision I have made in my professional life. The same applies this evening,” Bar said.
Referring to his responsibility for the slaughter of October 7, Bar said: “After years on many fronts, in one night, on the southern front, the sky fell. All the systems collapsed. The Shin Bet too failed to give warning.
“In view of the scale of the event, all of us who chose public service and defense of the country’s security as our life’s mission, and failed to provide a cloak of security on that day, must bow our heads in modesty before those murdered, killed, wounded and abducted, and before their families, and act accordingly. Everyone.
“Realizing one’s responsibility in practical fashion is inseparable from personal example and the heritage of leadership, and we have no legitimate right to lead without it. This is an organization whose proper function is of incalculable value for the security of the country and for Israeli democracy.”
Bar expressed the hope that the High Court of Justice would give a ruling in principle on the petitions against his dismissal. “A clarification is required of the institutional protections that will enable every head of the service to fulfil his task, subject to the policy of the government, for the benefit of the public, independently and free of pressures, and thereby draw a clear line between confidence and personal loyalty. The High Court of Justice hearing is not about my personal matter, but about the independence of future heads of the Shin Bet, and of course to that end I shall be prepared to attend any proceeding as required by the court in the future as well.”
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What will the High Court of Justice do?
Bar’s announcement means that the High Court of Justice will have to decide whether to give a ruling on the eight petitions filed against Bar’s dismissal. His resignation does not prevent a ruling from being given, but it does present a dilemma.
One possibility is that the judges will decide not to hold a hearing on the petitions, given the short time before Bar steps down anyway, and to leave the interim injunction against his dismissal in place until then.
Another possibility is that the court will give a ruling in principle on the relationship between the head of the Shin Bet and the political leadership and the need to set boundaries to political intervention, in the light of the serious claims in Bar’s affidavit that he was required to display personal loyalty.
The general assessment is that the High Court of Justice will not decide between the contradictory versions of events in the affidavits filed by Bar and the prime minister, but that it might consider the matter of principle, given its importance for the future functioning of the Shin Bet.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on April 29, 2025.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2025.
