Israeli ministers have redoubled their attacks on the embattled head of the country’s security agency, claiming he is undermining the government with a politically motivated investigation into a Shin Bet agent.
The agent, who has not been named, was arrested last Wednesday on suspicion of committing security-related offenses. Police say he used his position and access to Shin Bet systems to pass classified information to unauthorized parties “on several occasions.” The Shin Bet, officially known as the Israel Security Agency, is the country’s equivalent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The arrest of the agent deepens an already bitter feud between members of the government and the leader of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, who has said he will resign in the next few weeks. Ministers accuse him of mounting a number of politically motivated investigations designed to discredit the government. The acrimony soared following the QatarGate affair, which has ensnared two close associates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Shin Bet acknowledged the leak and the subsequent investigation into the agent’s actions. It said that during the Gaza war, there has been a rise in leaks of classified information by employees of security agencies. More than 20 leaks-related investigations have been carried out, it said.
Last month, Netanyahu said he had lost confidence in Bar, but the Shin Bet chief has received support from the opposition.
The suspect’s lawyers say the information that he passed to a minister and two journalists was “of immense public importance” but posed no threat to public safety.
Amichai Chikli, the minister who received the information from the accused Shin Bet agent, said he was a hero for passing it on.
Chikli claimed the information showed that Bar “was obsessively spying on a sitting minister” and that the agent had “revealed that the parts of the Shin Bet’s investigation into the circumstances of the (Gaza) war’s outbreak that were made public present a false and distorted picture.”
“Israel has never had a Shin Bet chief as reckless, arrogant, and incompetent as (Bar),” he said.
The agent’s lawyers said the information he’d provided presented a more complex account of Shin Bet’s conduct before October 7 than was previously published. Hamas-led militants attacked Israel that day in 2023, killing more than 1,200 people and igniting the ongoing war in Gaza.
‘A real regime coup’
Commenting on the arrest, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “This is what a real regime coup looks like.” He described Bar as a “dangerous individual” who uses the agency’s intelligence and investigative tools “as instruments to retaliate against politicians and journalists.”
The government voted to dismiss Bar late last month. But Israel’s Supreme Court froze the decision after the Attorney General said the firing could not proceed without the approval of a special committee.
Netanyahu’s Likud party portrayed the accused agent as a whistleblower who had exposed how Bar had “transformed parts of the Shin Bet into a private militia of the deep state.” The party accused Bar of working with Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, another target of right-wing ire.
Yair Lapid, the head of Israel’s opposition, rushed to Bar’s defense, saying the attacks against him were “a dangerous bloodbath for him and the Shin Bet members whose fighters protect the state’s security.”
“The Israeli government is a government of criminals that attacks investigators who investigate offenses against state security,” Lapid said on social media.
Critics have linked the attempt to fire Bar directly to the QatarGate affair, in which court documents show the two Netanyahu associates arrested by Shin Bet are suspected of receiving money from Qatar and working to portray the country positively in the media.
“When Netanyahu gets in trouble with Qatar he tries to fire the investigator,” said Yair Golan, leader of Israel’s left-wing Democrats party. “He will do everything to save himself. Himself and his mouthpieces. Netanyahu is dangerous to Israel.”