Ronen Bar, the head of Israel’s powerful internal security service, the Shin Bet, may seem an unlikely rebel.
A former special forces soldier who holds degrees from Tel Aviv and Harvard universities, Bar has devoted three decades of his working life to the service of the state. His frame is lean, greying hair close shaved, features gaunt, manner reserved and speech moderate.
But Bar has found himself on the frontline of Israel’s bitter internal political, social and cultural conflicts. On Thursday night, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu voted to dismiss the 59-year-old from his post – the first Shin Bet chief ever to be fired. His sacking prompted massive protests across Israel and revived accusations that Netanyahu wants to dismantle Israel’s democracy.
Yossi Melman, a veteran Israeli security reporter, said: “He never intended to be a hero to the opposition or the protest movement. He is a typical product of Israel’s security establishment. He is not a liberal or a softie but he is honest and brought up in the tradition that the state is important but without the law the state is nothing.”
Bar served his military service in the Sayeret Matkal, Israel’s elite special forces. He then opened and ran a bar in Tel Aviv, where he met his wife. After obtaining degrees in political science and philosophy from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard, he joined the Shin Bet and rose steadily through the ranks of its operations division, which manages logistics and support for the frontline teams handling everything from agents to assassinations in the occupied West Bank or elsewhere.
The priority of the Shin Bet is counter-terrorism, but the service also investigates espionage, manages security clearance for thousands of sensitive posts and has a legal duty to defend Israel’s democratic system.
Bar took over the service in 2021, having been appointed by the then prime minister, Naftali Bennett, and was expected to serve the standard five-year term. Now only a supreme court judgment can stop him from being summarily dismissed a year early.
One of the first senior security officials to accept responsibility for the many failures that allowed Hamas’s deadly surprise attack into Israel on October 7, 2023, Bar made it clear he intended to resign.
He has stayed on so long, associates and supporters say, to work towards the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza and to protect the Shin Bet from political manoeuvres.
That first objective has been partly achieved but not the second. Bar became a target himself when he warned of the threat posed by “Jewish terrorism” – a reference to violence perpetrated by parts of the far-right settler movement – and warned the far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, that police action in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem was creating a feeling of collective punishment among Palestinian residents.
This may have been honest but made for powerful enemies. The support of Ben Gvir and other far-right politicians linked to the settlers is vital for Netanyahu to maintain his grip on power.
In March 2023, amid widespread protests against government plans for judicial reforms, Bar told Netanyahu there was a link “between security threats and the social situation in Israel”, according to remarks reported by Israeli media.
A Shin Bet report into the 2023 attack released earlier this month attacked Netanyahu indirectly, saying that Israel had followed for years a “policy of quiet [which] had enabled Hamas to undergo massive military buildup”.
The implicit criticism took place as the Shin Bet stepped up an investigation into allegations that close aides of Netanyahu received payments from Qatar to promote its interests even while the Gulf state was partly financing Hamas in Gaza.
One of Bar’s greatest concerns is the appointment of a compliant government loyalist as his replacement, with huge consequences for investigations into the “Qatargate” scandal and much else, Melman said.
For his part, Netanyahu has cited a “persistent loss of professional and personal trust” for Bar’s dismissal, due to take effect by 10 April.
Bar denies this, pointing to months of effective collaboration with the prime minister, and in a letter published this week described his dismissal as being motivated primarily by Netanyahu’s “personal interests”.
“The dismissal of the Shin Bet director at this time [and] at the prime minister’s initiative, poses a direct threat to Israel’s security,” the former commando wrote.
Critics have claimed that he is trying to cover up the failures that led to the October 2023 attacks. Supporters said he was doing his job and speaking truth to power.
