New Shin Bet chief ready to take on Tehran, violence
We will deter enemies from causing trouble – PM
New Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar on Wednesday emphasized he would immediately take on threats emanating from Iran and its proxies as well as the wave of murders of Israeli-Arabs in Israel at a ceremony in which he took charge.
Bar replaces outgoing chief Nadav Argaman, who has directed the homeland security and intelligence agency since May 2016.
“The central threat to peace in the region, the ‘Shi’ite crescent’ led by Iran, the engine of terror, spying and influence, will continue to be at the heart of the [Israeli] intelligence community’s focus, including the agency,” said Bar.
He continued, “As a function of its role and responsibility, the agency will act to thwart this threat from
any place where it is identified, within Israel, outside the country and in the cyber arena.”
Bar will take the reins of Israel’s elite homeland security and intelligence agency as the country confronts a conflict still on low boil with Hamas in Gaza and frequent threats from Hamas’s and
Islamic Jihad’s West Bank terrorist cells.
It was noteworthy that Bar did not refer to Hamas and Islamic Jihad by name as much as he addressed them as proxies of the Islamic Republic.
Regarding the wave of murders of Israeli-Arabs, he said, “After we review the issue, we will present a proper balance between our contribution to strengthen the police versus increasing the direct involvement of the agency. It is clear to us that this is a national mission,” requiring all hands on deck.
The new Shin Bet chief also emphasized that he and the agency would think carefully about balancing its pursuit of preserving security alongside maintaining human rights protections.
There has been concern that the government’s decision to
bring the Shin Bet into dealing with Israeli-Arab violence could be a slippery slope to improperly infringing on citizens’ rights using tactics and technological tools meant only for counter-terrorism purposes.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who nominated Bar on September 1, said, “We must drive toward the goal in which there is no room for doubt and in which we remove from the
enemy any desire to challenge us” with terrorism or other security threats.
Bennett said he picked Bar because he could tell he would “always take the initiative and always find ways to explain how something is possible, and not why it is not possible” in fighting terrorism.
Argaman reported that during his tenure 2,261 significant terrorist plots were thwarted, but that 54 citizens were killed and 529 significant terrorist plots were carried out.
He said he took pride in the Shin Bet’s achievements, but that the agency’s job was never finished.
Bar is 55, married, and has three children.
He has a university degree in political science and philosophy from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree in public management from Harvard University.
Bennett served in the same Special Forces unit as Bar during his IDF service, though he is younger than Bar, and some believe this influenced the final decision.
In 2011, Bar was appointed head of the Shin Bet’s operations.
Then in 2016, he was promoted to be the head of Shin Bet headquarters, the number three post responsible for force buildup.
In 2018, he replaced the other “R” as deputy chief of the agency.
Bar’s units have been given numerous security awards over