Israeli spy chief delivers to court a scathing rebuke of Netanyahu's bid to fire him

Thomson Reuters

· Posted: Apr 21, 2025 2:42 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

The caput of Israel's home quality work said connected Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bid to fire him followed his refusal to fulfil requests that included spying connected Israeli protesters and disrupting the leader's corruption trial.

In an affidavit submitted to the Supreme Court, the caput of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, said that Netanyahu's March determination to disregard him was not based connected nonrecreational grounds but was prompted by unmet expectations of idiosyncratic loyalty to the premier minister.

In response, Netanyahu's office dismissed the affidavit, which it said was "full of lies."

Netanyahu's effort to sack Bar fuelled protests in Israel and was suspended by the Supreme Court, aft governmental watchdogs and absorption lawmakers argued the dismissal was unlawful.

Critics accidental that the Israeli authorities is undermining cardinal authorities institutions and endangering the foundations of the country's democracy. Netanyahu's Likud enactment has accused Bar of acting against the premier curate and turning parts of the Shin Bet work into "a backstage militia of the Deep State."

Israel's authorities has backed Netanyahu, who said that helium had mislaid assurance successful Bar implicit the agency's nonaccomplishment to forestall the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack, a information nonaccomplishment that led to the country's deadliest day.

But successful the unclassified portion of his affidavit, Bar argued that the quest to oust him began much than a twelvemonth aft the attack. He cited a bid of events betwixt November 2024 and February 2025, which helium said appeared to punctual the premier minister's moves against him.

Bar alleges Netanyahu meddling successful quality service

Those included Shin Bet investigations into leaks of concealed service documents to the media and imaginable links betwixt Netanyahu aides and Qatar, and a Shin Bet enquiry into its ain failings, which besides pointed to the authorities ignoring warnings earlier the Oct. 7 onslaught and argumentation failures that preceded it.

Bar besides said helium refused to motion disconnected connected a information petition aimed astatine preventing continuous grounds by Netanyahu astatine his corruption trial. Netanyahu, who denies immoderate wrongdoing, began testifying successful his long-running tribunal lawsuit successful December. His bureau denied that helium had asked for a postponement.

Bar besides cited what helium described arsenic unmet demands by Netanyahu for the quality work to enactment against anti-government protesters.

Netanyahu's bureau said Bar's affidavit confirmed that helium had "failed miserably" connected Oct 7. "This crushed unsocial requires the termination of his position," it said.

It besides denied that the determination to sack Bar was aimed astatine thwarting the alleged "Qatargate" probe into allegations of fiscal ties betwixt Qatar and Netanyahu aides.

"The dismissal was not intended to forestall the investigation. Rather, the probe was intended to forestall the dismissal," it said.

Bar has accepted Shin Bet's nonaccomplishment in forestalling the Oct. 7 attack, and said helium would measurement down earlier the extremity of his term.

The Supreme Court, after hearing arguments connected April 8 by watchdogs and absorption lawmakers who said that Bar's dismissal breached owed process and was tainted by struggle of interest, has yet to regularisation connected the case.