Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar implicated himself in the affidavit he submitted to the Supreme Court on Monday, in which he accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the government of various misdeeds, such as telling Bar he must heed the democratically elected government over the Supreme Court

Speaking in an interview with Arutz Sheva, Karhi said: “I think that Ronen Bar filed an indictment against himself today in court. He writes there that for the first time, at 1:33 AM (the night before the Oct. 7 massacre), he sent a team of operatives to the Gaza border area. He understood that something terrible was happening, sent a team of operatives five hours before the massacre, but did not wake up the soldiers or call the Prime Minister. He did not do what was required of him as the head of the Shin Bet. He violated the trust that the head of government and the citizens of Israel placed in him. This was not included in the Shin Bet investigation.”

Netanyahu’s office released a response to Bar’s affidavit, saying that it was full of lies and slamming Bar, not for the first time, for not waking up Netanyahu the night before October 7, asserting that if he had done so, the massacre could have been avoided. The statement noted that Bar’s affidavit confirmed that he failed on October 7, reason enough for his ouster. The statement also noted that Bar confirmed in his affidavit that Netanyahu expressed his wish to fire Bar in November 2024, contradicting Bar’s claims in February that Netanyahu fired him due to the Qatargate affair.

Karhi continued by saying: “There was a government decision, and everything was done according to the law. The Supreme Court order is clearly illegal and against democracy. There is a shadow government here that is trying to neuter the powers of the elected government. The most fundamental thing in a democracy is that the security of the State of Israel is in the hands of the elected officials. We have seen many statements from the Supreme Court saying that they do not interfere in security issues, but it leaves a Shin Bet chief in office whom the government doesn’t trust. This paradox and the extremely hypocritical conduct have no equal in any democracy in the world. It is our job to come and put things in order. The people gave us the mandate.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)