The security meeting scheduled for Tuesday was canceled after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he would not participate in security meetings were Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Chief Ronen Bar to take part in them, two sources told The Jerusalem Post.
The minister made the remarks following the security affair revealed on Tuesday, which saw a Shin Bet official arrested on suspicion of leaking classified information to an elected official and two journalists.
*הודעה מטעם לשכת חבר הקבינט המדיני בטחוני שר האוצר בצלאל סמוטריץ׳:*שר האוצר הודיע לראש הממשלה כי לא ישתתף בדיון הבטחוני החשוב שנקבע להיום במידה ורונן בר יוזמן על ידו להשתתף בדיון. השר סמוטריץ לא ישתתף בדיונים בהם משתתף רונן בר. מטעם השר סמוטריץ׳ נמסר:רונן בר הוא ראש שב”כ…
— בצלאל סמוטריץ’ (@bezalelsm) April 15, 2025
The Shin Bet affair prompted reactions from politicians across the spectrum.
Politicians react
Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli said that the Shin Bet official was a “hero of Israel, a whistleblower who was willing to take risks against a pair of officials [Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara] who entered a dangerously disoriented state.”
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X/Twitter, “After they instructed to ‘gather materials’ against me to carry out a targeted elimination, after they spied on the police commissioner and the head of the prison service, after they fabricated cases against outstanding police officers whose only ‘crime’ was upholding the law and the minister’s policy, after they fabricated and continue to fabricate cases against the Prime Minister and his associates, after they lied to the court—after all this, what is it for these criminals to eavesdrop on a journalist?”
Jesus Christ is King
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