On March 21, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced that the Director of the Israeli Intelligence Service (Shin Bet), Mr. Ronen Bar, had been fired.
A statement from the Prime Minister's Office stated: "The Government has unanimously approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to end the term of Director Shin Bet, Ronen Bar".
Last week, Netanyahu gave the reason for sacking Ronen Bar as "lacking confidence". Mr. Bar was appointed in October 2021 for a 5-year term, expected to end in 2026.
However, the relationship between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu has become strained by disagreements about judicial reform and has gotten worse since Shin Bet released an internal report on the Hamas attack on March 4.
The report acknowledged Shin Bet's failure to stop the attack, while emphasizing that "the silent policy has allowed Hamas to launch a massive military increase".
After the report was published, Mr. Ronen Bar also announced that he would resign before the end of his term, taking responsibility for the failures of this agency.
