The dismissed head of the Shin Bet revealed the reason for his disagreement with Netanyahu

Ronen Bar, the dismissed head of the Shin Bet spy service, announced that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked him to issue a ruling to postpone his appearance in court on corruption charges.

In a letter addressed to the Israeli Supreme Court to protest his dismissal by the regime's cabinet, Bar wrote that Netanyahu repeatedly asked him to issue a security order stating that security conditions did not allow his trial sessions to be held continuously.

According to the Palestinian Sama news agency, Netanyahu responded to these statements by saying: The accusations that the Shin Bet chief has made against me are lies.

Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying: "These statements are fundamentally false. Given the missile threats against Israel and especially against himself, the prime minister discussed with the Shin Bet chief ways to allow him to testify in court."

The statement went on to emphasize that the discussions focused on the location of the testimony, not whether or not it would be possible.

Netanyahu had previously announced that he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, who has been the head of the Shin Bet since 2021, and planned to dismiss him on April 10.

Netanyahu and Ronen Bar's relationship was already strained even before the October 7 attack due to proposed judicial reforms that had sparked controversy in the occupied territories, but it deteriorated sharply after the Shin Bet published a summary of its internal investigation into Hamas' October 7 operation on March 4.