Contradicting known timeline, PM claims Shin Bet chief opened Qatar probe to prevent his firing

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Shin Bet security agency chief Ronen Bar only opened an investigation into his senior aides’ financial ties with Qatar in order to prevent Bar’s firing.

The premier’s assertion appears to be based on little evidence and contradicts the known sequence of events, as he only initiated the process to dismiss Bar after the investigation into Qatar had already been launched.

In a prerecorded video message containing what he describes as “a dramatic revelation of facts that will shake you,” Netanyahu presents what he says are “shocking” documents to back up his claim, though they appear fundamentally unrelated to the timeline of the Qatar probe, and do not support his assertions.

“The facts prove unequivocally that the dismissal was not intended to prevent the investigation — the investigation was intended to prevent the dismissal,” Netanyahu says, having offered no evidence. “So tell me, who here is acting with ulterior motives.”

At the start of the video, Netanyahu pushes back against legal petitions to prevent Bar’s dismissal, stating that he “will not remain head of the Shin Bet” and that “there will be no civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic state.”

“We are a nation of laws, and the law in the State of Israel, simply put, means that the government is entitled to fire the Shin Bet chief before the end of his term,” Netanyahu states — dismissing “claims that the dismissal of the Shin Bet head was done to prevent the investigation into the issue of Qatar.”

Netanyahu then says that his distrust of Bar began on October 7, 2023, blaming the Shin Bet director for not waking him as security chiefs discussed worrying signals from Gaza. He says his distrust of Bar grew as the war raged on.

He then appears to claim that the Shin Bet chief, realizing he was about to be fired, put off submitting the agency’s probes into its failures surrounding Oct. 7, and then colluded with Baharav-Miara to launch the Qatar investigation in an attempt to prevent his dismissal.

“I thought that the appropriate time to end the Shin Bet head’s tenure would be after he presented me with the Shin Bet’s probes into the failures of October 7. Thus it was with the IDF chief of staff. I instructed the Shin Bet head to present me with the probes by February 15,” Netanyahu says.

“On February 15, the date by which he should have presented the probes, Ronen Bar sent me a letter,” he says, holding up the letter in question. “And [Bar writes], ‘I wish to update you that I am unable to present the probe of the Shin Bet on the date you requested.’ He ends the letter by saying, ‘In light of this, I ask to hand in the main findings no later than February 27.'”

(Netanyahu does not mention this in the video, but the letter from Bar also notes that Netanyahu had only informed him at the start of that month of his expectation to receive the Shin Bet October 7 probe’s findings within two weeks — a deadline Bar explains he could not meet. He says rushing the report within two weeks would force the Shin Bet to resort to unacceptable “shortcuts” in its investigation — something “to which we cannot agree.” Bar states in his letter that he is responding to a letter from Netanyahu on February 10. The Shin Bet presented its Oct. 7 probe findings on March 4.)

נתניהו ניסה לחשוף את ראש השב״כ אבל חשף את עצמו: מכתב הפיטורים לראש השב״כ נשלח יממה לאחר פתיחת חקירת קטארגייט: נתניהו חשף הערב מכתב ששלח לו ראש השב״כ במטרה ״לחשוף שאין קשר לחקירת קטארגייט״, בעיה קטנה התאריך עליו הגיב ראש השב״כ, ״במענה למכתבך מ10/02/2025- זהו יום אחד לאחר שנפתחה… pic.twitter.com/QbTYLTFuHI

— daniel amram – דניאל עמרם (@danielamram3) March 22, 2025

Netanyahu continues in the video: “But on February 27, he didn’t present me with the investigation, instead asking for several more days. Again, I agreed to his request. But look what happened: That very same day, on February 27, in the evening hours, in a rare coincidence one couldn’t invent, the attorney general announces the opening of a probe into Qatar!”

“The facts prove unequivocally that the dismissal was not intended to prevent the investigation — the investigation was intended to prevent the dismissal,” Netanyahu declares.

In fact, however, the “Qatargate” probe was launched before the February 27 announcement Netanyahu pointed to. February 27 was indeed the date that Baharav-Miara announced a criminal investigation. She was only able to do so because the Shin Bet had already been probing the matter for at least 12 days after gathering information on the alleged ties of Netanyahu’s office to Qatar.

Though an exact date for when the Shin Bet probe into “Qatargate” was launched is not publicly available, the first query from a reporter on the matter is known to have been submitted as early as February 9 — before any of the letters Netanyahu pointed to were sent. The allegations of Netanyahu’s aides’ ties to Qatar were aired by Channel 12 on February 10. By February 15, the Shin Bet had already confirmed a probe was underway.

Channel 12’s political reporter Daphna Liel writes, “Netanyahu tried to prove this evening that the “Qatargate” affair has no connection to [his decision to dismiss] the head of the Shin Bet, but he did exactly the opposite. The request for a response to the affair was submitted by Ofer Hadad on February 9, and Netanyahu’s letter to Ronen Bar to expedite the investigations he requested was sent the next day — the day the affair was revealed. An incredible coincidence!”