Following reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is looking to remove Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, one of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s deputies clarified that such a dismissal must first be reviewed by her.
In a missive publicized Friday, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon wrote that “such a decision relating to the head of a security body, certainly one that holds law enforcement powers, necessitates proper procedure based solely on substantive considerations.”
“If such a process is considered, in order to ensure its compliance with the necessary procedural and substantive safeguards, the political leadership must first submit the matter for prior review by the attorney general before advancing it,” Limon added in his response to a query by the Civil Democracy Movement NGO.
He further stressed that Bar’s removal would need to be supported on “a solid and full factual basis, and be free of outside considerations and comply with legal orders, particularly the rules of administrative law.”
Nevertheless, Limon said the Attorney General’s Office was “not aware of any intention or decision regarding the end of the Shin Bet head’s tenure.”
Bar was appointed as the chief of the Shin Bet in 2021 for a five-year term, but the government has the authority to end his tenure and appoint a new director. In the history of the State of Israel, no Shin Bet director has ever been fired during their term, though two directors resigned before completing their terms.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO/File)
Hebrew media reports on Limon’s letter noted its publication came a day after Baharav-Miara ordered a criminal investigation into alleged ties between several of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aides and Qatar, which will be led by the Shin Bet and the police.
The security service first announced in mid-February that it was probing the matter, with Netanyahu’s office responding by accusing the Shin Bet of selective enforcement and dismissing the allegations against his aides as “fake news.”
Bar has also faced calls for his dismissal over the Shin Bet’s investigation into allegations that top-secret documents were stolen from the IDF and one of them was leaked by a Netanyahu spokesman at the center of the suspicions involving Qatar.
Additionally, Netanyahu has clashed with Bar and other top security officials over the hostage release and ceasefire talks with Hamas, removing them from Israel’s negotiating team last month in favor of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, his longtime confidant.
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