by Ruth EGLASH
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he was seeking to dismiss the head of Israel's internal security agency, who swiftly called the move political and said the premier expected "personal loyalty".Netanyahu and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have been engaged in a public spat in recent weeks over reforms to the agency, which has been accused of failing to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that triggered war in Gaza.
At the same time, the Shin Bet has been conducting an investigation into some of Netanyahu's aides for allegedly receiving payments from Qatar even as the Gaza war raged, according to Israeli media reports.
"Due to ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to bring a proposal to the government to end the tenure of the Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar," Netanyahu said in a video statement.
Attorney general Gali Baharav Miara, a critic of Netanyahu, said the prime minister's move is "unprecedented" and its legality needs to be assessed.
In a letter to Netanyahu she said he cannot initiate the process "until the factual and legal foundation of your decision is fully clarified, and until the possibility of addressing the issue at this time is determined."
Netanyahu, in his statement, said that "there must be complete trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet," given that Israel is at war.
"I have had a persistent lack of confidence in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has only grown over time," he said.
Netanyahu said Bar's dismissal "is necessary to restore the organisation, achieve all our war objectives, and prevent the next disaster."
Previously, he has accused Bar of being behind what he called "part of an ongoing campaign of threats and media leaks" aimed at preventing him "from making the necessary decisions to restore the Shin Bet after its devastating failure on October 7".
Following Netanyahu's announcement, Bar said he did not believe Netanyahu's decision was related to the failures on October 7, suggesting instead that the motive was political.
"I took responsibility for the agency's part (in failing to prevent the attack) ... it is clear that the intent behind my dismissal is not related to October 7," said Bar, whose term is due to expire in October 2026.
"The prime minister's expectation of a personal loyalty that contradicts the public interest is an entirely improper expectation" that goes against the agency's ethics, he said.
Bar has led the Shin Bet since 2021, but his relations with Netanyahu were strained even before the Hamas attack, notably over proposed judicial reforms that had split the country.
Relations worsened after the March 4 release of the internal Shin Bet report on the Hamas attack.
It acknowledged the agency's own failure in preventing the attack, but also said "a policy of quiet had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup".
The attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians. Israel's retaliatory response in Gaza has killed at least 48,572 people, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
In his statement on Sunday, Bar repeated previous comments that a broader probe is necessary to understand the failure to stop the attack.
Bar emphasised the need to "investigate all parties, including the government's policy and the prime minister, not just the IDF (military) and the Shin Bet".
Bar's responsibilities appear to have been curtailed already.
Media reports say he was excluded from a recent security cabinet meeting and also the Israeli negotiating delegation for Gaza truce talks in Qatar. The talks are being led by Bar's deputy, known only as 'M'.
Bar had been involved in previous sessions of indirect negotiations with Hamas, including those that led to the current fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's main opposition leader and former prime minister Yair Lapid, who's government appointed Bar, said his political party, Yesh Atid, would file a legal petition with the Supreme Court to appeal Netanyahu's decision.
Lapid said on X that the move to remove Bar was to "sabotage a serious criminal investigation into the Prime Minister's Office".
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© Agence France-Presse