Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar held a tense meeting on Thursday, during which Netanyahu urged Bar to resign from his position – but he refused, Channel 12 reported on Sunday.

Prime Minister Netanyahu told Bar during the particularly charged meeting: “We waited for the investigation. Now is the time to hand over the keys.”

Last week, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar referred to his responsibility for the October 7th failure in closed-door talks, saying: “I have taken responsibility and I intend to fulfill it. But timing is important.” In addition, he stated: “I will not allow the imposition of a Shin Bet chief from outside the organization.”

Bar told his employees that he intends to ensure that a state commission of inquiry is established: “The moment I see that this is happening, I will want to pass the baton to one of my two excellent deputies.”

Last week, the Prime Minister’s Office launched an unprecedented attack against Bar following the publication of the organization’s internal investigation into the failures that led to the October 7th attack. According to sources in Netanyahu’s circle, the investigation is an attempt to blur the failure of the Shin Bet itself and deflect the blame towards the political echelon.

Sources in Netanyahu’s circle said that the findings of the investigation do not reflect the magnitude of the failure and that Bar completely failed in dealing with Hamas, both in recent years and in the hours before October 7th. They added that the Shin Bet was captive to a flawed conception and did not correctly interpret the intelligence picture.

In the situational assessment conducted on October 1, 2023, Bar recommended granting civilian benefits to Hamas in exchange for calm. In another intelligence assessment presented on October 3, the Shin Bet claimed that Hamas wants to avoid a battle against Israel and even emphasized Israel’s potential to maintain stability in Gaza by providing economic opportunities to the residents of the Strip.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)