The left sees its grip on the Israel Security Agency and the Attorney General’s Office as being at risk.
Israel’s anti-government protest movement has adopted a new cause: saving the job of Ronen Bar, head of the Israeli Security Agency (aka Shabak or Shin Bet), who was fired by the Israeli government in a unanimous vote on March 20.
On March 22, an estimated 100,000 people demonstrated in various cities against his firing. “Ronen Bar, we’re with you and we’ll defend you,” read one banner, which included a picture of Bar with two heart images.
The puzzling choice of Bar, given his share of the responsibility for the failure of Israel’s intelligence services on Oct. 7, 2023, can only be understood as an attempt to keep a figure whom the protest movement deems sympathetic to its cause in charge of Israel’s secret service, observers tell JNS.