Shin Bet Chief's Affidavit Opened the Most Horrifying Pandora's Box in Israel's History - Israel News - Haaretz.com
To say that the contents of ousted Shin Bet security service director Ron Bar's affidavit are "an earthquake" or "demand an indictment" is to resort to mere cliches in a crazy country where the ground is "quaking" every day and someone "demands an indictment" against his rival every other day. See, for instance, Justice Minister Yariv Levin's letter attacking the attorney general and her response. We're used to it.
Nevertheless, the feeling that arises from "Ronen Bar's" affidavit (as Netanyahu's diehard fans would put it, since they deny that he is still in office) can be summed up in a single word – fear.
Bar described a dystopian situation in which the prime minister is acting like a dictator or the head of a criminal organization. He demanded that Bar extricate him from his criminal trial by making false claims of a security risk. He demanded that Bar take action against the people protesting against him in the streets.
He protected employees of his office who are up to their necks in ties with Qatar, Hamas' funder. He ousted Bar from the hostage negotiating team despite the critical role Bar and his agency play and their success in reaching earlier deals.
And finally, he demanded that Bar obey him rather than the Supreme Court in the event of a constitutional crisis. In other words, the state is him.
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In some of the incidents described above, Netanyahu whispered his requests in Bar's ear after sending his military secretary and his stenographer out of the room at the end of their official meeting. One minute he's a prime minister dealing with national security. The next he's a tyrant in the mode of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Netanyahu, who has long since lost his way, apparently assumed that Bar would swallow his dismissal, salute and go home. He never imagined that the ousted official would open a Pandora's box more horrifying than any opened during the country's previous 77 years of existence. And Bar did so not in an interview with journalist Ilana Dayan, but in an affidavit to the Supreme Court.
Only a minority of the document was made public; the majority consists of 31 pages of classified material. Presumably, that includes supporting evidence and footnotes – for instance, memorandums written after such prima facie criminal requests. It's also reasonable to think that Bar told other people what he had heard – Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara or the Shin Bet's legal adviser and other senior agency officials.
The statement put out by the Prime Minister's Office was generic – it's all lies. Wait, wait, that means a crime was committed. Submitting a false affidavit in court is a crime bearing a maximum sentence of three years in jail.
Supporters wear fake blood and theatrical makeup at a demonstration calling for the release of Israeli soldier Matan Angrest, who was abducted by Hamas militants at Kibbutz Nahal Oz on Oct. 7, 2023, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, April 21, 2025.Credit: Ariel Schalit,AP
But every Israeli who isn't unconscious and has a clean conscience knows which man is the liar. Bar has never been caught in a lie, just as Netanyahu has (almost) never been caught telling the truth. Hundreds of defense officials, civil servants and politicians who worked (or are still working) with both him and Bar can testify to that. The decision between the two is unequivocal, and has been for decades.
Netanyahu's supporters in politics and the media made the following argument in his defense: Why didn't Bar rush to air this dirty laundry to the media when he first encountered it? That's a hypocritical argument that wouldn't meet any standard of reality.
Bar's predecessors, Nadav Argaman and Yoram Cohen, also didn't do so, though they witnessed similar incidents when they served under Netanyahu. The Shin Bet director's job is to listen, say no (if it's a patently illegal order) and then move on to prevent things from getting worse.
The Prime Minister's Office equipped its spokespeople with talking points that the more diligent were quick to repeat. For instance, if the Shin Bet took action against Israeli protesters during the period of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s and the disengagement from the Gaza Strip the following decade, why shouldn't it take action against people protesting the government's judicial overhaul?
Netanyahu and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in 2023.Credit: Kobi Gideon/BauBau
The answer to that is clear, but these days, even the self-evident needs to be said. During the Oslo period, Israelis plotted to kill the prime minister. One of them even succeeded in doing so. During the disengagement, Israelis planned actions that bordered on terrorism. One of those Israelis was Bezalel Smotrich, today the finance minister. The protests against the judicial reform were completely legal, nonviolent and almost wimpy.
Netanyahu's behavior, as described in the affidavit, is a continuation of the judicial overhaul through other means. But the phrase that kept being uttered on Monday – "incapacitation now," meaning Netanyahu should be declared incapable of continuing to serve – was silly and pointless.
The government's poison machine has already framed the event in exactly those terms: Bar's "campaign" is meant to pave the way for Baharav-Miara, who works in close cooperation with her fellow member of the deep state, to declare Netanyahu incapacitated.
In reality, neither the Supreme Court nor the attorney general would dare declare Netanyahu incapacitated, even though he absolutely is unfit to serve in every respect. He has ridden roughshod over the conflict-of-interest agreement he signed from the day it was written.
But a criminal investigation would be a suitable alternative. And the Supreme Court justices are authorized to order that.
After a speech by then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant two years and one month ago, I wrote that Netanyahu is a clear and present danger to national security. The proof of that has since arrived, bloodier and more painful than anyone could have imagined.
Now, I can add that he is a clear and present danger to the democracy he is sick of, the statesmanship he has rebelled against, the basic norms of integrity and decency that he scorns and the Zionism that the founders of the state envisioned. He is a walking disgrace, a blot on Israel.