The leading potential successor to ousted Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar is Lieutenant M., who emerged as a candidate after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed him as a senior member of the hostage deal negotiating team, sidelining Bar. The outgoing chief had already introduced M. as a potential successor to the organization’s senior officials, even before learning of his own dismissal.
M. is reportedly viewed as dependable by the prime minister, whose declared reason for sacking Bar was losing faith in him. However, as deputy head of the service on October 7, M. also shares responsibility for the failure. He was set to conclude his tenure in the Shin Bet around the start of the war but extended his term at the Prime Minister’s request to join the negotiating team.
M. wears a kippah and grew up on a religious kibbutz. He is an expert in Arab affairs and lost his brother several years ago. He joined the Shin Bet in 1994 as a security guard and later became a coordinator in the Hebron area during the early days of the Second Intifada. Over the years, he held senior positions in Judea, Samaria, and Jerusalem before being appointed head of the district.
M., alongside two other candidates, R. and S., represent a new era in the Shin Bet. They played a role in rebuilding the organization after the devastating October 7 attack, with one of them maintaining close ties to the Prime Minister’s Office.
