TEL AVIV: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he will seek to dismiss the head of the country’s internal security service this week, deepening a power struggle between the men focused largely on who bears responsibility for the Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza.
The effort by Netanyahu to remove Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar is the latest move in an increasingly acrimonious dispute, which also involves the security service’s investigation into close aides of Netanyahu. In response, Bar said he would refuse to immediately step down, heightening the turmoil.
Netanyahu said in a statement he has had “ongoing distrust” with Bar, and “this distrust has grown over time.”
Bar replied in a statement that he planned to continue in the post for the near future and had told that to Netanyahu, citing his “personal obligations” to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, finish sensitive investigations and prepare potential successors.
The Shin Bet is responsible for monitoring Palestinian militant groups, and recently issued a report accepting responsibility for its failures around the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack. But it also criticized Netanyahu, saying failed government policies helped create the climate that led to it.
Whereas the army concluded in a recent report that it underestimated Hamas’ capabilities, Shin Bet said it had a “deep understanding of the threat.” In veiled criticism of the government, the agency said its attempts to thwart the Hamas threat were not implemented.
“The investigation reveals a long and deliberate disregard from the political leadership from the organization’s warnings,” Bar said Sunday.
The tensions boiled over this weekend when Bar’s predecessor, Nadav Argaman, said he would release sensitive information about Netanyahu if it is found that the prime minister had broken the law. Netanyahu accused Argaman of blackmail and filed a police complaint.
Netanyahu has resisted calls for an official state commission of inquiry into the Oct. 7 attack and has tried to blame the failures on the army and security agencies. In recent months, a number of senior security officials, including a defense minister and army chief, have been fired or forced to step down.
Bar has been been one of the few senior security officials since the Oct. 7 attack to remain in office.
Netanyahu said removing Bar as Shin Bet chief would help Israel “achieve its war goals and prevent the next disaster.” The prime minister is expected to appoint a loyalist in his place, slowing any momentum for the commission of inquiry.
Netanyahu’s proposed resolution for Bar’s dismissal would need the approval of parliament, the Knesset, and it is likely he has support to pass it.
However, a personnel decision of this magnitude must get the attorney general’s approval, said Amichai Cohen, a senior research fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank. Cohen said Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara may challenge Netanyahu, setting up a court battle.
The two have a combative relationship, with the prime minister accusing Baharav-Miara of meddling in government decisions. Earlier this month, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, one of Netanyahu’s biggest supporters, initiated the process of firing her.
Cohen also called Netanyahu’s decision “very problematic,” and said it illustrates the conflict of interest regarding investigations into connections between the prime minister’s office and Qatar and the information Shin Bet published in its investigation into the failures leading up to the Oct. 7, 2023 attack.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, a good-governance civil society group, called Netanyahu’s announcement a “declaration of war on the rule of law” and claimed that he does not have the authority to take the step against Bar because of investigations into his own office.
Netanyahu is angry that the Shin Bet is investigating members of his staff for their dealings with Qatar, a mediator in talks on the war in Gaza. The Shin Bet, and Bar, have been closely involved with the hostage negotiations.
Netanyahu recently removed Bar from the negotiating team and replaced him with a loyalist, Cabinet minister Ron Dermer. Israeli media have reported on deep policy differences between the negotiators, who have pushed for a hostage deal, and Netanyahu, who continues to threaten to resume the war.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid accused Netanyahu of attempting to fire Bar over the investigation into connections between the prime minister’s office and Qatar, and said he would appeal the dismissal, calling the resolution “shameful” and politically motivated.
Netanyahu seeks to dismiss Israel’s internal security chief as power struggle boils over
https://arab.news/rytsz
Netanyahu seeks to dismiss Israel’s internal security chief as power struggle boils over
- Shin Bet Director Ronen said he would refuse to immediately step down
- Netanyahu’s proposed resolution for Bar’s dismissal would need the approval of parliament
US lawmakers press Israel to probe strike on reporters in Lebanon
- “The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said
- Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured
WASHINGTON: Several Democratic lawmakers called Thursday for the Israeli and US governments to fully investigate a deadly 2023 attack by the Israeli military on journalists in southern Lebanon.
The October 13, 2023 airstrike killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and wounded six other reporters, including two from AFP — video journalist Dylan Collins and photographer Christina Assi, who lost her leg.
“We expect the Israeli government to conduct an investigation that meets the international standards and to hold accountable those people who did this,” Senator Peter Welch told a news conference, with Collins by his side.
The lawmaker from Collins’s home state of Vermont said he had been pushing for answers for two years, first from the administration of Democratic president Joe Biden and now from the Republican White House of Donald Trump.
The Israeli government has “stonewalled at every single turn,” Welch added.
“With the Israeli government, we have been extremely patient, and we have done everything we reasonably can to obtain answers and accountability,” he said.
“The IDF has made no effort, none, to seriously investigate this incident,” Welch said, referring to the Israeli military, adding that it has told his office its investigation into the incident is closed.
Collins called for Washington to publicly acknowledge the attack in which an American citizen was injured.
“But I’d also like them to put pressure on their greatest ally in the Middle East, the Israeli government, to bring the perpetrators to account,” he said, echoing the lawmakers who called the attack a “war crime.”
“We’re not letting it go,” Vermont congresswoman Becca Balint said. “It doesn’t matter how long they stonewall us.”
AFP conducted an independent investigation which concluded that two Israeli 120mm tank shells were fired from the Jordeikh area in Israel.
The findings were corroborated by other international probes, including investigations conducted by Reuters, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders.
Unlike Welch’s assertion Thursday that the Israeli probe was over, the IDF told AFP in October that “findings regarding the event have not yet been concluded.”
