The Times of Israel is liveblogging Friday’s events as they happen.
High Court petition filed against government’s dismissal of Shin Bet chief
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel says it filed a High Court petition against the government’s dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
US national security adviser voices support for Israel’s renewed offensive against Hamas
WASHINGTON — US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz tweets his support for Israel’s renewed military campaign against Hamas amid mounting opposition from the international community.
“Israel has every right to defend its people from Hamas terrorists,” Waltz writes.
“The ceasefire would have been extended if Hamas released all remaining hostages. Instead, they chose war,” the top Trump aide adds.
The Trump administration has quickly gotten behind Israel’s refusal to advance phase two of the hostage deal, backing the decision to resume fighting on Monday night after Hamas refused a US offer to extend phase one of the deal.
Liberman: By firing Shin Bet chief, Netanyahu ‘doing exactly what our enemies dream of’
Opposition Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman tears into the government for voting to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar “amid a war against all our enemies.”
“The prime minister of October 7 [Benjamin Netanyahu] is doing exactly what our enemies dream of — fighting the Shin Bet head,” Liberman says. “[Netanyahu] needed to take responsibility after the disaster, resign first and demand all those to blame for the failure join him.”
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid says the government is dismissing Bar “for one reason alone: To stop the Qatargate investigation.
“Opposition parties will together appeal this reckless step that is meant to whitewash a hostile state’s penetration into the prime minister’s office,” Lapid charges.
Netanyahu’s cabinet votes unanimously to fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, moves up his last day in post to April 10
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet unanimously votes in favor of dismissing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the premier’s office announces.
Bar’s final day will be April 10, with the government moving up his dismissal after initially scheduling it for April 20, though Netanyahu’s office says Bar could be gone before then if ministers approve a permanent replacement.
The vote marks the first time in Israel’s history that a government has fired the Shin Bet’s leader.
The meeting to approve his dismissal lasted some three-and-a-half hours.
Bar did not attend, but sent a letter saying that firing him was “entirely tainted by conflicts of interest,” and constituted a “fundamentally invalid” attempt to undermine the Shin Bet as it probes Qatar’s influence at the Prime Minister’s Office.
Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, who was present, again expressed her opposition to the move. Her office had told Netanyahu earlier in the day that the government must obtain a recommendation from an advisory committee before weighing Bar’s dismissal.
Netanyahu calls Bar ‘soft,’ says he was ‘not aggressive enough’ in hostage negotiations
Speaking in the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar is “soft” and “not the right person to rehabilitate the organization,” according to his office.
He says that his determination was made on the night of October 7, 2023, and during the negotiations for the release of hostages that followed.
“I have been managing diplomatic negotiations for many years,” says Netanyahu. “He had a soft approach and not aggressive enough.”
He claims that since replacing Bar with another senior Shin Bet official, “the leaks have decreased dramatically, and through very successful negotiations we have managed to return the hostages.”
The ceasefire-hostage deal with Hamas was signed in January, weeks before Netanyahu removed Bar from the negotiating team.
Likud Minister Avi Dichter, a former Shin Bet chief, backs firing of Ronen Bar
Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter of Likud, a former head of the Shin Bet, explains his vote to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar by pointing at the importance of trust between the prime minister and his counterterrorism chief.
“Unlike an institution that has operational aspects, the Shin Bet also has personal aspects related to the prime minister,” says Dichter, “the Shin Bet chief is responsible for the prime minister’s personal security.”
“In a situation of lack of confidence, there are two options: either the Shin Bet chief resigns, or he is fired. And if he does not resign, then he is fired.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir meanwhile claims Bar is a “direct threat to democracy,” according to Hebrew-language media reports.
Israelis oppose the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar by 51-32%; trust Bar more than Netanyahu by 46-32%
Fifty-one percent of Israelis oppose the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, compared to 32% who back his dismissal, a Channel 12 opinion poll finds.
Forty-six percent say they trust Bar more than they trust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while 32% trust Netanyahu more than Bar.
Some 45% say they believe Bar is being fired over the “Qatargate” investigation, and 31% do not.
Fifty percent do not believe that Bar opened the “Qatargate” probe to avoid being fired, as Netanyahu has charged, while 18% do.
‘Israeli official,’ said to be Netanyahu, pushes conspiracy that Ronen Bar knew ahead of Hamas attack but didn’t act to stop it
As the cabinet deliberates the dismissal of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, an “Israeli official” accuses the spy chief of doing nothing to stop the Hamas October 7, 2023, attack even though, the official claims, Bar knew it was going to happen beforehand.
“Ronen Bar preferred not to attend the government meeting [tonight] dealing with his case, simply because he was afraid of giving answers,” says the official, whom Channel 12 identifies as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself, “and especially of answering one question: Why, after you knew about the Hamas attack many hours before it happened, did you do nothing and did not call the prime minister – something that would have prevented the disaster?”
Netanyahu has sought to place the responsibility for the colossal failure on the shoulders of the security establishment, arguing he was not woken up when signs of an impending attack were being picked up by Israel’s intelligence services in the hours before Hamas’s invasion and slaughter.
The unfounded allegation of advance knowledge of the Hamas attack has been peddled online, including by pro-Netanyahu conspiracy theorists, against Israel’s security chiefs since soon after October 7, but not directly advanced by the prime minister.
The official also accuses Bar of “clinging to his seat while cynically exploiting the families of the hostages and using his position politically to fabricate futile, unfounded investigations.”
The fiery statement comes after Bar, in a letter earlier tonight, accused Netanyahu of harming Israel’s security and getting in the way of negotiations to reach a hostage release deal.