Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
The real reason behind Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar may lie in an extraordinary four-page letter Bar sent to Netanyahu, attached to the intelligence agency’s investigation into its failures ahead of October 7, Ynet learned Tuesday.
The letter was delivered late at night on March 3. According to growing assessments among senior security officials, it played a key role in Netanyahu’s final decision to attempt to dismiss Bar. Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara also received the letter in the past 24 hours, and is reviewing it as part of the factual circumstances surrounding the dismissal attempt.
2 View gallery
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar
(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit, ABIR SULTAN/AFP, shutterstock)
In the letter, Bar provides a detailed account of the Shin Bet’s operational failures in the years leading up to October 7, its flawed strategic approach and its response on the day of the Hamas-led attack. But the most striking section is where Bar — breaking precedent by doing so directly to the prime minister — lays out the political leadership’s own failures that enabled the October 7 massacre.
He says that “disturbing systemic insights” had surfaced and require urgent investigation and correction. The letter essentially serves as a damning indictment of government policy over the past decade. Bar highlights the state-backed funding that helped Hamas build its military capabilities — referring to financial support from Qatar.
Legal sources pointed to other issues raised in the letter, including the government’s long-standing policy of “quiet met with quiet,” which allowed Hamas to grow stronger while undermining Israel’s ability to act on warnings, as well as years of political refusals to authorize the elimination of Hamas leaders.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
2 View gallery
Netanyahu, Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara
(Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images, Yair Sagi, Yoav Dudkevitch')
Bar also tells Netanyahu that counterterrorism efforts cannot rely solely on defense but must be proactive, a stance the Shin Bet had repeatedly conveyed to Israel’s leadership in recent years. He stresses the urgent need to sever ties between Hamas and Iran’s Shiite axis.
Essentially, Bar asserted that Israel’s entire security apparatus collapsed on October 7. He also cited the government’s disregard for warnings about looming threats in 2023. He told Netanyahu that a deep, independent investigation into all decision-making processes is necessary to uncover the truth — warning that failure to do so would put Israel’s security in serious jeopardy.
The Shin Bet declined to comment. However, political sources believe Netanyahu’s office viewed Bar’s letter as an effort to build a case against the prime minister — ultimately prompting the decision to remove him.