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As top Israeli security chief announces resignation, critics say Netanyahu should too

April 29, 2025 by Pesach Benson
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Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) Chief Ronen Bar’s Monday night announcement that he will step down on June 15 has drawn calls from the opposition for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do the same.

Director of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar at the Remembrance Day ceremony for Israeli fallen soldiers and victims of terror at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City. Jerusalem, May 24, 2023. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS

“As the head of the organization, I took responsibility for this,” said Bar, who was speaking at a memorial ceremony for fallen Shin Bet personnel. “And now… I have chosen to announce the fulfillment of that responsibility and my decision to end my tenure as head of the Shin Bet.”

Opposition leaders lauded the move as a long-overdue act of accountability.

“Ronen Bar made the correct and appropriate decision. This is what taking responsibility looks like,” tweeted opposition leader Yair Lapid. “Of those responsible for the greatest failure in the country’s history, only one is still holding on to his chair.”

National Unity party chief Benny Gantz echoed the sentiment, saying, “Ronen and the Shin Bet failed on October 7… He did the same today in his decision to resign. It is appropriate and correct that the political echelon also fulfills the same responsibility.”

Bar’s critics on the right, however, slammed his resignation as too little, too late.

Likud MK Ariel Kallner called Bar an “illegal” director who should be detained for insubordination, while MK Avi Maoz of the far-right Noam party declared, “You didn’t resign. You were fired.”

Bar said that while the agency failed to provide early warning of the attack, it had not been blind to the threat.

“Despite efforts to depict a different reality, there was no complacency in the Shin Bet. To the contrary, there was a recognition of the Hamas threat… and yet we failed,” he said.

Without directly naming Netanyahu, Bar criticized those unwilling to accept blame. “The fulfillment of responsibility in practice is an inseparable part of personal example and the legacy of our leaders,” he said. “We have no legitimacy to lead without it.”

Bar warned of threats to the agency’s independence and called on the High Court to ensure institutional protections for future Shin Bet chiefs. “Over the past month, I fought for this,” he said. “I hope that its verdict will ensure that the Shin Bet remains so — for the long term and without fear.”

Bar’s decision comes amid a legal dispute with the government over his dismissal. The cabinet unanimously voted to remove him in March at Netanyahu’s urging, a move Bar challenged in court. In an affidavit, Bar accused the prime minister of attempting to politicize the Shin Bet and demand personal loyalty over legal duty. Netanyahu, in a counter-affidavit, denied the allegations.

Netanyahu and Bar have been blaming each other over what was known before Hamas’ October 7 attack and whether it could have been prevented, as well as the “Qatargate” scandal.

Bar claims that Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss him was influenced by a conflict of interest related to the ongoing investigation. The government argues that Bar should have resigned after the agency completed its internal investigation in March.

The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence service, is responsible for counterterrorism, counterintelligence, internal security, VIP protection, and cybersecurity. The only Shin Bet director to ever leave before the end of his five-year term was Carmi Gillon, who resigned in the aftermath of the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Bar’s announcement also comes amid continuing calls for a broader state commission of inquiry.

Such commissions have broader authority to summon witnesses and collect evidence and are headed by a senior Supreme Court justice. They may include personal recommendations about individuals under investigation, though the government is not bound to act on them.

Netanyahu has resisted calls for an inquiry, saying he opposes a “politically biased” probe. Critics accuse the Prime Minister of delaying the inquiry and trying to water down its mandate.

The last state commission of inquiry, which investigated Israel’s worst civilian disaster — a stampede that killed 45 people at a holy site on Mount Meron — held Netanyahu personally responsible for the tragedy in a report released in 2024.

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