Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will resign at end of war, former intelligence official claims

14 January 2024, 10:45 am

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Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, at a memorial service marking 27 years since the assassination of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, held at Mount Herzl cemetery in Jerusalem on November 6, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar will resign from his position at the end of the war in Gaza over the intelligence failures ahead of the deadly Hamas onslaught on October 7, former Shin Bet head Yaakov Perry tells Army Radio.

“I spoke with him directly about what is expected and I have no doubt that he will be one of the first to hand over the keys,” Perry says. “His intention is to leave the position.”

On October 15, Bar acknowledged his personal responsibility for the lack of an early warning for the assault on southern Israel communities.

“Despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately, on [October 7] we were unable to generate a sufficient warning that would allow the attack to be thwarted,” he wrote at the time in a missive to members of the agency.

“As the one who heads the organization, the responsibility for this is mine,” Bar said. “There will be time for investigations. Now we are fighting.”