Netanyahu Fires Security Chief Ronen Bar After Hamas Attack Failures

• Netanyahu fires Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar over failure to foresee Hamas’ Oct 7 attack.
• The dismissal, deemed political by Bar, fuels mass protests in Jerusalem.
• Israel resumes heavy strikes on Gaza, ending a two-month ceasefire.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, over the agency’s failure to foresee the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Bar, appointed in October 2021 for a five-year term, was formally removed following cabinet approval on Thursday. Netanyahu had announced his intention to sack him earlier in the week, citing a “persistent loss of professional and personal trust” that had worsened during the war.

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Bar has called the decision politically motivated. His dismissal has intensified anti-government protests in Jerusalem, where demonstrators opposed to both the government and Israel’s renewed offensive in Gaza have gathered in large numbers.

Israel resumed major airstrikes on Gaza this week, targeting what it said were Hamas positions, ending a two-month truce. The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, plays a central role in national security operations and maintains strict secrecy about its personnel and activities.

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Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who opposes the dismissal and is herself facing potential removal, argued that Bar cannot be fired until a legal review is completed.

In a letter to his cabinet, Netanyahu proposed Bar’s dismissal take effect on April 20, referencing the Shin Bet’s “operational failure” on October 7, when about 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage by Hamas militants. Israel’s military response has resulted in over 48,500 Palestinian deaths, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

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