Netanyahu-Shin Bet relations hit new low after arrest of agency official

Official is alleged to have leaked information about investigation into far-right ideology in the police force

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, right, was one of the recipients of the leaked information. AFP

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The relationship between Israel’s intelligence community and its government suffered another blow on Tuesday after news emerged that the Shin Bet internal security agency had arrested one of its officials for allegedly leaking classified material to journalists and a minister about an investigation into the spread of far-right ideology in the police force.

The revelation prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party to accuse the Shin Bet of being a “private militia of the deep state”.

On Tuesday a court extended the detention of the official, who has been under arrest for almost a week, until Wednesday afternoon. Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, to whom the material was leaked, was present at the hearing. Mr Chikli called the suspect an “Israeli hero” and accused Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara of operating as a “political Stasi”.

Mr Bar and Mr Netanyahu's far-right coalition have been locked in public disputes for weeks, which reached dramatic heights last week when Israel’s highest court froze the government's dismissal of the agency's head.

The Prime Minister maintains that he fired Mr Bar because of a lack of trust in his ability, but critics say it was done for political reasons, in particular the Shin Bet’s investigation into whether members of Mr Netanyahu’s staff accepted money from Qatar while he was in office. The allegation is highly controversial given Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas, the Palestinian militant group whose political leaders are based in Qatar.

Scuffles broke out in a courtroom before a hearing on the government's dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service. Reuters

Mr Bar is also in favour of a state commission of an inquiry into the deadly attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, that triggered the war, a suggestion Mr Netanyahu has consistently opposed. There are also reports that Mr Bar refused Mr Netanyahu's request to help him delay giving testimony in his trial on corruption charges.

The latest Shin Bet investigation began after a high-profile Israeli journalist reported that the agency was looking into “Kahanist” infiltration in the police, referring to the far-right religious Zionist ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who founded the now-banned Kach party in Israel.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Shin Bet said the leaked information “endangers security” and that the suspect “exploited his security role and direct access to Shin Bet information systems to extract classified material and transfer it to unauthorised parties on multiple occasions and in a covert manner”.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed Mr Netanyahu’s “government of criminals” for attacking investigators and said that the drama was an attempt to divert attention from other corruption scandals.