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The High Court of Justice issued an injunction Friday freezing the dismissal of Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, just hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly indicated he would not honor a ruling blocking the move.
Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz ruled that Bar’s ouster, approved unanimously by the Cabinet hours earlier, would be suspended pending further legal proceedings. A hearing on the petitions against the dismissal will be held no later than April 8, with government responses due by March 24.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Shin Bet director Ronen Bar
(Photo: Yair Sagi, ABIR SULTAN/AFP, Shutterstock)
“Without taking a stance on the petitions, and to prevent an irreversible situation, a temporary order is issued suspending the government’s decision until further notice,” the judge wrote.
Bar was scheduled to end his term on April 10 or upon the appointment of a permanent replacement, whichever came first.
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The decision sparked sharp backlash from senior officials. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi lashed out at the court, saying, “You have no legal authority to interfere. This is the government’s domain alone. Your order is invalid. The people are sovereign.”
The ruling came shortly after new quotes emerged from Thursday night’s Cabinet meeting in which Netanyahu reportedly told ministers: “Can anyone imagine continuing to work without trust due to a court order? That can’t happen—and it won’t happen.”
Bar did not attend the Cabinet meeting but issued a detailed letter rejecting the legal and professional basis for his dismissal, framing it as a politically motivated maneuver aimed at undermining the Shin Bet’s independence and ongoing investigations, including a sensitive probe involving alleged ties between staff in Netanyahu's office and the Qatari government.
In his letter, Bar wrote that the Cabinet session “was convened hastily and in violation of basic legal principles, particularly the right to a hearing.” He added that the accusations in the dismissal proposal were vague, baseless and lacked substantiation, despite his request for concrete examples in a prior conversation with the prime minister.
Bar strongly denied the suggestion. “The call for an independent and thorough investigation into October 7, and related issues, is a duty—not disloyalty,” he wrote. “Efforts to obstruct such a probe for personal or political gain pose a direct threat to Israel’s security.”
Bar also defended his handling of hostage negotiations, noting that the most recent deal was personally led by him, coordinated with Netanyahu and approved by the Cabinet. He dismissed the prime minister’s accusations of “soft handling” and “weak negotiation tactics,” suggesting the criticism stemmed from internal political motivations.
Netanyahu, in turn, accused Bar of politicizing the Shin Bet and opposing Cabinet positions in public forums. “He dragged the agency into political arguments,” the prime minister reportedly told ministers. “I need someone I can look in the eye and trust without hesitation when approving sensitive operations.”
The prime minister said that he had replaced Bar as head of the negotiation team in January, assigning the role to his deputy. “Since then, leaks have diminished and we succeeded in bringing hostages home,” he said, though Bar noted that the key deal had already been finalized before the leadership change.
Bar’s letter suggested that his dismissal may be linked to ongoing sensitive investigations into “Qatar-Gate,” a probe into alleged foreign influence within the Prime Minister’s Office. “A rushed attempt to remove me, backed by unfounded claims and clear conflicts of interest, directly endangers the Shin Bet’s ability to function professionally and threatens Israel’s national security,” he wrote.
While Netanyahu has avoided publicly referencing the Qatar investigation, his office has repeatedly criticized the Shin Bet’s involvement in the probe, calling it “scandalous” and claiming it was aimed at avoiding accountability for the intelligence failures of October 7.