A sworn affidavit filed by Shin Bet Ronen Bar on Monday, in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to have pressured Bar to obstruct his criminal trial, act against protestors against the government, and attempt to thwart ongoing investigations into his close aides, was “false,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said approximately an hour after its publication.
The PMO promised that the affidavit would be “disproved in detail” shortly.
In the affidavit, Bar asserted that Ronen Bar was an “emergency alarm for Israeli democracy,” Democrats chairman Yair Golan wrote in a post on X/Twitter following the affidavit’s publication on Monday.
In the affidavit, Bar asserted that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to fire him due to a series of measures that posed political threats. These included Bar’s refusal to approve security measures that would have delayed Netanyahu’s testimony in his criminal trial; the Shin Bet’s investigation into two cases involving Netanyahu’s close aides, relating to leaked classified documents and alleged public relations services provided by the aides to Qatar; the Shin Bet’s investigation into the October 7 massacre, which indicated that the political echelon ignored numerous warnings about the security dangers involved in the social rift over the 2023 judicial reforms; and Bar’s insistence on the formation of a State Commission of Inquiry.
Bar also stated in the affidavit that Netanyahu had pressured him to use tools reserved for use against subversion or threats of violence, against “financiers” of the protests against the judicial reforms, as well as against reservist groups who threatened to cease fulfilling reserve duty if the reforms were approved.
Bar also filed a classified affidavit with what he claimed were proof of his claims.
The PMO and Bar’s office reportedly negotiated prior to the affidavit’s filing, in an attempt to prevent it. Bar was reportedly offered to end his tenure “honorably” and be involved in appointing his successor, in exchange for refraining from filing the affidavit. The existence of such negotiations could not be independently confirmed.
Opposition Leader Mk Yair Lapid said in a video statement on Monday, “The Shin Bet Chief's affidavit proves that Netanyahu is dangerous to Israel's security and cannot continue serving as Prime Minister.”
“Netanyahu attempted to use the Shin Bet to monitor Israeli citizens, dismantle democracy, and bury the Qatargate investigation. If Netanyahu appoints the next Shin Bet chief, it poses a significant danger to the State of Israel and all its citizens,” Lapid wrote.
Democrats chairman Yair Golan, who retired from his military career in 2018 as Deputy IDF Chief of Staff,
wrote in a post on X following the affidavit’s publication on Monday, "The Shin Bet Chief's affidavit is not just another warning—it is a severe indictment and an emergency alarm for Israeli democracy.”
“The Prime Minister demanded personal loyalty from the Shin Bet Chief instead of loyalty to the state. He demanded that he use the secret service against citizens, lie to the Supreme Court, and bend the rule of law to serve his personal needs. Not against terror—but against political rivals, against protests, against citizens who came out to defend democracy,” Golan wrote.
“A Prime Minister who has failed in security and diplomacy, is neck-deep in legal troubles, whose associates conduct secret dealings with Qatar behind the back of the security establishment—tries to exploit the Shin Bet to survive politically,” Golan wrote.
“Netanyahu is an anarchist leading an anarchist government—this is not just a risk to democracy. It is effectively a coup. Netanyahu is a direct threat to Israel's security, the rule of law, and the very existence of the state as we know it. He must go. Now. I wish to strengthen Ronen Bar for his steadfastness, his loyalty to the state, its character, and its values. The people are with you,” Golan wrote.
“Ronen Bar submitted an affidavit to the court today, but forgot one small detail: he is no longer the head of the Shin Bet. His term ended with a legal and unanimous government decision,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi (Likud) said in a statement.
“Any attempt to cling to his position while trampling the law and relying on an unauthorized interim order is a scandal. There is no greater danger than a security chief who refuses to accept the decision of the authority above him, and instead stands as an emissary of the legal bureaucracy and the Kaplanist movement,” Karhi continued.
“Governance is a duty, not a suggestion. Bar must vacate his position—now, before he again endangers Israel’s security,” the minister concluded.
Protest groups respond
A coalition of protest groups called “Hofshee B’Aartzeinu” (Hebrew for “Free in Our Land”) said in a statement, "A Prime Minister who asks the head of a security organization to act against public protests, against ordinary citizens, lives with the mindset of a dictator. Israel will survive this, remain a democracy, and recover. We are fighting to make that happen! Netanyahu, on the other hand, will be remembered in infamy as the Prime Minister who tried to turn Israel into a dictatorship and as the one who brought upon the Jewish people the greatest disaster since the Holocaust."
