Ronen Bar named next Shin Bet chief

The cabinet approves the nomination of the next Shin Bet security service director.

Ronen Bar, the current deputy head of the agency, will fill the top job at the domestic spy agency.

Bar’s name was previously barred from publication for security reasons. He was approved for the role despite an anonymous letter claiming unspecified misconduct.

Bar served in the Israel Defense Forces’ elite Sayeret Matkal unit, the same detachment in which Prime Minister Naftali Bennett served, and then entered the ranks of the Shin Bet as a field agent. He was tapped to lead the Shin Bet’s Operations Division in 2011, became head of the service’s resource development department in 2016, and took over as deputy head of the organization in 2018.

Bennett calls him a “brave warrior and daring commander, who throughout his life has been engaged in the loftiest mission of all — protecting Israel’s security.”

“He has often risked his life for the homeland,” says Bennett, adding that he’s confident he’ll lead the security service to “new heights of action and excellence.”