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Netanyahu Moves to Sack Israel's Internal Security Chief
Above: (L to R) Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant-General Herzi Halevi, interim Police Chief Avshalom Peled, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, attend a ceremony in Jerusalem on Oct. 27, 2024. Image copyright: Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
The Spin
Left narrative
Netanyahu's move to oust Bar clearly demonstrates the prime minister's desire to sideline anyone who could oppose him and install loyalists within the government. Indeed, the Shin Bet's recent investigations into Netanyahu's connections with Qatar, which supports Hamas, are likely the main reason he is acting now to push Bar out.
Right narrative
The primary reasons Netanyahu wants to sack Bar are because of his and the rest of the security apparatus's failure to prevent Hamas' Oct. 7 attack and Bar's constant undermining of the prime minister. Netanyahu is well within his right to fire Bar, and the attorney general is playing politics. Indeed, yet again, the left is needlessly dividing Israel during wartime to further its political agenda.
Pro-Palestine narrative
Regardless of the bickering among Israel's political and security elite, Netanyahu's authoritarian intentions are nothing new to Palestinians. Palestinians have lived under brutal occupation for decades, and, now, the circle of this repression is expanding into Israeli society itself.