In a strong rebuke aired Monday on 103FM, Ilan Lotan, a onetime top official within the Shin Bet, publicly criticized agency head Ronen Bar and urged him to resign immediately.
“They turned the Shin Bet into an enemy of the people, even greater than Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad,” Lotan charged, emphasizing that “the relationship between the Shin Bet and the prime minister is critical.”
Lotan expressed serious doubt over how Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu and Bar could continue collaborating, given the mutual accusations between them, asserting that the only viable way to determine the facts would be through the establishment of a state commission of inquiry.
“I greatly appreciate Bar as a person, but he needs to announce his resignation,” Lotan continued.
“The relationship with the prime minister is critical — the issues are so sensitive. Just imagine them sitting in a work meeting on such sensitive matters. This elephant in the room must be removed,” he warned, suggesting that the unresolved tension makes effective communication impossible.
Lotan also shared that he has been hearing from active Shin Bet agents who conveyed to him their profound sense of disappointment and betrayal.
“As we speak, people are working all night to thwart terrorist attacks, and they hear these headlines in the news, and it’s a very painful feeling,” he said, describing the morale crisis among the operational teams.
Meanwhile, Likud MK Amit Halevi, speaking to 103FM on Monday, echoed the call for Bar’s departure, arguing, “Unfortunately, Bar is severely harming Shin Bet because he refuses to resign, and since then he has been doing everything to leave scorched earth behind at the Shin Bet.”
Halevi elaborated on the dysfunction, noting, “There can be no government without overall responsibility. But you also can’t treat that responsibility normally when all the officials are working against you, not reporting to you, and doing everything they can to prevent you from implementing your policies.”
He also remarked on the broader erosion of confidence in national institutions, commenting, “You won’t find much trust in a High Court that seeks to impose its values on all of Israeli society. Therefore, there is a great lack of trust.”
Taking aim at Bar’s recent legal maneuvers, Halevi stated, “Ronen Bar submitted affidavits to remain in office as part of his anti-democratic battle. In any democratic country, he would have been sent home. In Israel, due to the constitutional revolution that hasn’t happened,” he charged.
Concluding his remarks, Halevi reiterated the urgent need for a full investigation, declaring, “A state commission of inquiry must be established,” and emphasizing that it must delve into systemic issues that have been building up over an extended period.
{Matzav.com}