National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir tweeted on Sunday: “Ronen Bar is a criminal and a liar, attempting to deny his efforts to conspire against elected officials in a democratic nation, despite the documents now being made public. I will not settle for his dismissal—he must face criminal charges for attempting a coup and undermining democracy.”
Ben Gvir’s comments came after a News12 investigation revealed that Bar had ordered a secret procedure against the police and Ben Gvir, which involved gathering evidence in an effort to incriminate the minister.
Yotam Zimri, a regular panelist on News14’s popular “Patriots,” said Sunday night, “We are living in one huge prank. Ronen Bar is saying, how bad can I be at my job, which is to protect the lives of Israeli citizens, and still be protected by the ‘Anyone but Bibi’ camp, as it dismantles the country.”
Zimri said we live in a world where a person can be directly and clearly responsible for the murder of more than 1,200 Israelis, accept responsibility publicly, say I’m guilty, I’ll resign – and still disobey his employer, the Israeli public, and its elected officials.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday attacked Ronen Bar over news that the Shin Bet was investigating political interference by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir in police work out of fear of “infiltration of Kahanism” into the police.
For the record, the Wiki definition of Kahanism is a religious Zionist ideology based on the views of Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League and the Kach party in Israel, according to which most Arabs living in Israel on either side of the Green Line are the enemies of Jews and Israel.
Following the 2021 riots in Israel’s mixed cities, the ongoing barrage of Arab terrorist acts against the Jews of Judea and Samaria, and the October 7, 2023, Arab atrocities, it stands to reason that a vast majority of Israelis mistrust the Arabs of Eretz Israel and expect them to carry out even more acts of violence against innocent Jewish civilians.
Seeing as the Shin Bet, when it is doing its job, also acts based on the above assumptions, it appears that the blanket use of “Kahanism” in this case is purely political, and is part of the efforts by Ronen Bar, AG Gali Baharav-Miara, and the state prosecution to entrap Minister Ben Gvir as part of their effort to topple the majority right-wing coalition government.
With that in mind, assigning criminal intent to Shin Bet chief Bar is not outlandish but anchored in the law.
The General Security Service Law, 5762-2002, section 4, says:
(a) The service is subordinate to the government; the government will approve objectives for the service subject to the provisions of this law.
(b) The Prime Minister is in charge of the service on behalf of the government.
(c) The service will operate on a non-political (mamlachti) basis; the service will not be assigned a task to promote party-political interests.
Section 19 says that a Shin Bet employee who acted without the consent of the prime minister will serve between one and five years in prison, depending on the severity of the violation.
