Tel Aviv [Israel], March 17 (ANI/TPS): Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to fire the head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) drew praise from members of the governing coalition and fierce criticism from the opposition. No Shin Bet director has ever been dismissed in the middle of his term.
Political tensions climbed on Sunday when Netanyahu notified Shin Bet director Ronen Bar on Sunday that the Cabinet would vote to fire him in the coming days. After the meeting, Netanyahu said in a video statement, "At all times, but especially during an existential war such as the one we face, there must be full trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet. But unfortunately, the situation is the opposite -- I do not have such trust. I have ongoing distrust in the head of the Shin Bet, a distrust that has grown over time."
But Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said Netanyahu did not have the authority to dismiss Bar without a legal review.
She cited "the extraordinary sensitivity of the issue, its unprecedented nature, the concern that the process may be tainted by illegality and conflict of interest, and considering that the role of the head of the Shin Bet is not a personal trust position serving the prime minister."
Further stoking the tensions, Bar initially released a statement saying Netanyahu did not listen to the Shin Bet's warnings.
The Shin Bet's internal investigation, said Bar, "pointed to a policy that was led for years, with an emphasis on the year preceding the massacre, by the government and its leader. The investigation reveals a long and deliberate disregard by the political echelon for the organization's warnings."
Bar's statement also said, "The Prime Minister's expectation of a personal duty of trust whose purpose contradicts the public interest is a fundamentally wrong expectation that is contrary to the Shin Bet Law and contrary to the value of statehood that guides the General Security Service and its personnel."
Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the move against Bar "a loss of composure and a moral collapse." Lapid also claimed the dismissal was motivated by the Shin Bet's investigation into two of Netanyahu's aides' ties with Qatar. "For a year and a half he saw no reason to fire [Bar], but only when the investigation into Qatar's infiltration of Netanyahu's office and the funds transferred to his closest aides began, it suddenly became urgent to remove him."
Justice Minister Yariv Levin insisted that Netanyahu had the authority to fire the Shin Bet director.
"The Shin Bet Law explicitly states that the government has the authority to terminate the service of the head of the agency before the end of their term. This law should be known to the attorney general as well. In case anyone is confused, Israel is a democracy, and everyone in it, including the attorney general, is subject to the law," Levin said.
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 resign before the end of his five-year term was Carmi Gillon in the aftermath of the 1995 assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Otzma Yehudit party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted his support for Netanyahu, saying "I commend the Prime Minister for the decision to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet. This is something I have demanded for a long time--better late than never. There is no place in a democratic state for officials who act in a politically adversarial manner against elected representatives."
Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who appointed Bar as Shin Bet director in 2000, denounced the move.
"Mr. Netanyahu bears ultimate responsibility for the worst failure in Israel's history and should have resigned long ago," Bennett tweeted. "His passive and defeatist policy has allowed Hamas and Hezbollah to build themselves into terror powerhouses on our borders for 15 years. As he wrote in his own book, even when I demanded the destruction of Hamas, he blocked it and even took pride in doing so."
Bennett added that while several security officials "took responsibility" for the failures of Hamas's October 7 attacks, "Netanyahu, on the other hand, is running away from his responsibility. The State of Israel will not be able to recover without his resignation."
Most prominent among the resignations following the conclusion of the army's internal probes of the October 7 attacks was Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, who was recently replaced by Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir.
According to a series of army probes, some 5,000 terrorists from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad managed to attack numerous Israeli communities and overrun the Israel Defense Force's border positions. The army's chain of command broke amid the chaos and soldiers were outnumbered. For years, the military misunderstood Hamas's intentions, and as October 7 approached, intelligence about the looming attack was misinterpreted, according to the findings.
The military's probes also found the military was more focused on threats from Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Iran.
The IDF's inquiries only dealt with issues of operations, intelligence and command, not decisions made by the political echelon.
There have been growing calls for the government to appoint an independent commission of inquiry to investigate political and military failures. 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.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government ministers say a state inquiry into failings that led to Hamas's October 7 attacks should only be held after the war. Critics accuse Netanyahu of delaying the inquiry and trying to water down the powers of a commission.
In respone to a legal petition filed by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the High Court of Justice ordered the government to update the justices on its position by May 11.
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 April.
At least 1,180 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas's attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 59 remaining hostages, 36 are believed to be dead. (ANI/TPS)