JERUSALEM, March 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel's prime minister, pushing to dismiss internal security chief Ronen Bar, alleged on Monday there had been an attempt to bring down his government after Israeli media reported Bar's agency spent months probing far-right infiltration of the police.

The police are under the supervision of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The minister opposed a ceasefire in Gaza but rejoined the government last week when Israel resumed intensive bombing of the Palestinian territory in its war against Hamas.

In his latest accusation against Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Bar of investigating Ben Gvir without his approval.

Netanyahu is pressing ahead with proceedings to sack Bar, a move which the Supreme Court blocked on Friday and has sparked protests around Israel.

"The claim that the prime minister authorised Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to gather evidence against minister Itamar Ben Gvir is yet another exposed lie," Netanyahu said.

"The document that was published, which shows an explicit directive from the head of Shin Bet to collect evidence against the political echelon, resembles dark regimes, undermines the foundations of democracy and aims to bring down the right-wing government", Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

The accusation came the day after Netanyahu's government began proceedings to sack Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and two days after it attempted to fire Bar. The Supreme Court froze Bar's dismissal the same day.

Ben Gvir reacted on X, calling Bar a "criminal" and a "liar, who is now trying to deny his attempt to conspire against elected officials in a democratic country, even after the documents were revealed to the public and the world."

Before his election to parliament four years ago, Ben Gvir was long known for his anti-Arab rhetoric and had found inspiration in the late, extremist rabbi Meir Kahane, whose Kach movement is banned in Israel.

The unprecedented efforts to dismiss the Shin Bet chief and now the attorney general have widened divisions in Israel as it resumes its military operations in the Gaza Strip. 
Demonstrators in a reignited protest movement have accused the prime minister of threatening democracy.

Netanyahu has cited an "ongoing lack of trust" in Bar and insists it is up to the government who will lead Shin Bet.

- Adversary of the far-right -
Bar's denunciations of what he termed "Jewish terrorism" in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and his warnings to Ben Gvir not to enter Jerusalem's sensitive Al-Aqsa mosque compound were among the factors that placed him at odds with Netanyahu's far-right ministers.

The Supreme Court froze Bar's dismissal after several appeals were filed, including by opposition leader Yair Lapid's centre-right Yesh Atid party.
The opposition's appeal highlighted what critics see as the two main reasons Netanyahu moved against Bar.

The first was his criticism of the government over the security failure that allowed Hamas's October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the deadliest day in the country's history.

The second was what the opposition appeal said was a Shin Bet investigation into Netanyahu's close associates on suspicion of receiving money linked to Qatar.

Netanyahu's office has dismissed the accusations as "fake news".
Israel's cabinet passed a vote of no confidence on Sunday against Baharav-Miara, the first step in a process to dismiss her.

Netanyahu's office pointed to "significant and prolonged differences between the government and the government's legal adviser," a key part of the attorney general's job.

Following the Supreme Court's initial ruling in the Bar case, Baharav-Miara said Netanyahu could not name a new internal security chief and was "prohibited to take any action that harms" his position.