Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday stepped up his criticism of the head of the Internal Security Service (Shin Bet), Ronen Bar, whom he accused of undermining the "foundations of democracy" by investigating a far-right minister.
The new allegations against the head of the Internal Security Agency come amid growing political polarization, with tens of thousands of Israelis protesting in recent days against the prime minister's "autocratic actions", including against Ronen Bar.
The head of government is at an impasse with the Supreme Court, which suspended the resignation of Ronen Bar, announced by the government on Friday, and with the State Attorney General, Gali Baharav-Miara, against whom the government filed a motion of no confidence on Sunday, the first step in a impeachment process that promises to be long.
In a statement released today, the Israeli government accused the Shin Bet leader of investigating the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir without the prime minister's consent.
The statement came after Channel 12 television reported that the Shin Bet had been conducting a "secret investigation" for several months into the infiltration of far-right elements into the police and into Minister Ben Gvir.
"The published document, which contains an explicit directive from the Shin Bet chief to gather evidence against the politician, is similar to the methods of (shadow) regimes, undermines the foundations of democracy and aims to overthrow the right-wing government," Benjamin Netanyahu's office added.
In turn, the National Security Minister described Ronen Bar on the social network X as a "criminal and a liar" who "is now trying to deny his attempted conspiracy against the elected representatives of a democratic country."
The government, one of the most right-wing in Israel's history, announced the resignation of Ronen Bar on Friday, but the Supreme Court suspended the decision a few hours later to hear five appeals, including one from the opposition.
The Shein Bet leader has become a nuisance for Netanyahu and his allies since the Likud (right-wing) leader returned to power at the end of 2022, thanks to an alliance with far-right parties.
Since then, Ronen Bar has denounced acts of "Jewish terrorism" in the occupied West Bank, with the latest investigations by his services implicating Netanyahu's executive.
The prime minister blames Ronen Bar for Israel's failure to prevent the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
One of the appeals against Ronen Bar's dismissal alleges that the real reasons for his dismissal are related to the so-called "Qatargate", in which the Shin Bet suspects that allies of the prime minister received bribes from Qatar.
The appeal also points to the conclusions of the Shin Bet's recent internal investigation, which says that the government failed on October 7, 2023, the deadliest day in Israel's history, and questions, without naming names, the policy of appeasement of Hamas advocated for years by Netanyahu and other political leaders.
In the face of escalating protests, Benjamin Netanyahu challenged the protesters on Saturday night, saying: "Ronen Bar will not remain as head of the Shin Bet, there will be no civil war and Israel will remain a democratic state."
The attorney general is also in the government's sights after openly criticizing the dismissal of Ronen Bar, assuring that it has no legal basis, and stating that Netanyahu has a "conflict of interest" regarding the matter, since the Shin Bet recently warned of the "responsibility" of the country's political leadership in the Hamas attacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment