Top official blasts Bar: ‘He’s confused about who reports to whom’

Amid a war of words between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, an anonymous Israeli official — usually code for statements from the Prime Minister’s Office — launches a broadside against the spy chief, saying that Bar is “confused about who reports to whom.”

“The Shin Bet chief clinging to power harms the Shin Bet and the security of the country,” says the official, adding that Bar’s response to Netanyahu proves that he has to go.

“If anyone had any doubts about the vital need to remove the Shin Bet chief from his position,” says the official, “he has now received the final answer to that with the anti-democratic response in which he says that he, and not the government, will determine when he will end his position.”

Bar said earlier that he intended to continue in his role until the hostages returned, until he completed several “sensitive” investigations — likely those related to the Prime Minister’s Office — and when his two potential successors were ready. After some outlets took that part of the statement to mean Bar was refusing to be fired, the Shin Bet in a clarification said Bar told Netanyahu in their meeting that “whatever decision is made, he will respect the law.”

The official takes a swipe at Bar, saying he similarly “decided on the night of October 7 who not to wake up and who not to call.”

Netanyahu and his allies have sought to pin the blame on the Hamas attacks on the security establishment, arguing they failed to notify the prime minister in time.

“The Shin Bet chief is repeating the lie that he warned the political echelon against the Hamas attack, while the protocols prove the exact opposite,” says the official. “On October 1, 2023, seven days before the massacre, the Shin Bet chief said that Hamas was deterred and that it should be given economic benefits in order to maintain calm.”

The Shin Bet probe found various failings surrounding the agency in relation to the October 7 Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, but largely pinned the blame on other agencies and long-standing government policies, such as the transfer of Qatari funds to Hamas-run Gaza.