JERUSALEM, April 29, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel's domestic security chief Ronen Bar said Monday he would stand down on June 15 following weeks of tension with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose decision to fire him was frozen by the country's top court.

"After 35 years of service, in order to allow an orderly process for appointing a permanent successor and for professional handover, I will end my role on June 15, 2025," the Shin Bet chief said during a memorial event for fallen officers of the agency.

Bar has contested his sacking in a legal case that has divided the nation and brought out conflicting testimonies of events leading up to Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

He also recently sent a sworn statement to the Supreme Court accusing Netanyahu of demanding personal loyalty and ordering him to spy on anti-government protesters.

On Sunday, Netanyahu filed an affidavit of his own to the court calling Bar a "liar".

In his comments to agency staff on Monday, Bar said the "court proceedings are not about my personal situation, but about the independence of future Shin Bet heads".

"There is a need for clarification regarding the institutional protections that will enable every future head of the Shin Bet to perform his or her duties, subject to government policy, for the public good, independently and without pressure," he said, explaining that his goal was to "draw a clear line between trust and loyalty".

Bar also addressed the agency's failure to prevent Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel.

"After years of many fronts, in one night, on the southern front, the sky fell. All systems collapsed. The Shin Bet failed to provide an early warning," he said.

"As the head of the organisation, I have taken responsibility for this."

- 'Conflict of interest' -

Bar's dismissal was announced by the government last month but frozen by the Supreme Court, triggering mass protests both for and against the move.

The unprecedented sacking had been contested in court by members of the political opposition and some NGOs.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara cautioned that the effort to oust Bar was "tainted by a personal conflict of interest on the part of the prime minister", as the Shin Bet was investigating Netanyahu's close advisers for allegedly receiving money from Qatar.

After an initial hearing, both Bar and the government were required to submit affidavits supporting their arguments to the court.

Last week, in his affidavit, Bar said that in the event of a potential constitutional crisis, "it was clear" that Netanyahu would expect him to obey the prime minister and not the courts.

Bar also said that the Shin Bet had alerted Netanyahu's security apparatus just ahead of the Hamas attack early on October 7.

"Nothing was hidden" that night, Bar said.

Netanyahu's response on Sunday contradicted Bar.

"He did not wake up the prime minister. He did not wake up the minister of defence. He did not wake up the soldiers of the army," or others before the attack, Netanyahu wrote in his 23-page affidavit.

Bar, he said, "failed in his role as chief of Shin Bet and lost the confidence of the entire Israeli government as far as his ability to continue to manage the organisation".