Head of Israel's intelligence agency steps down

The head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service announced his resignation on Monday, saying he would step down on June 15, six weeks after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tried to oust him.

“After 35 years of service, in order to allow for an orderly process of appointing a permanent successor and a professional handover, I will end my role on June 15, 2025,” Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar said in remarks released by the security service.

The Shin Bet, which handles counter-terrorism investigations, has been at the centre of a growing political battle pitting Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government against an array of critics ranging from members of the security establishment to families of hostages in Gaza.

Netanyahu said on March 16 that he had long ago lost confidence in Bar and that trust in the head of the domestic security service, whose roles include counter-terrorism and security for government officials, was especially crucial at a time of war.

The Israeli prime minister’s decision to sack Bar in March sparked protests nationwide, with critics arguing that the government was undermining key state institutions and endangering the foundations of Israeli democracy.

The Supreme Court later temporarily froze the government’s bid to sack Bar, who claimed that Netanyahu wanted to fire him after he refused to fulfill requests that included spying on Israeli protesters and disrupting the leader’s corruption trial.

Netanyahu, in response to the accusations, accused Bar of lying.

The controversy followed more than two years of hostility between Netanyahu supporters and elements of the security and defence establishment that was worsened by blame over the failures that allowed Hamas’ Oct 7, 2023 attack, the worst security disaster in Israel’s history and the trigger for the war in Gaza.

Bar, who had been one of the main Israeli negotiators in ceasefire and hostage release talks, had already indicated he would resign before his term was due to end in about 18 months, accepting responsibility for Shin Bet’s failure to forestall the attack.