Netanyahu's search for a new Shin Bet chief

Long list of candidates to replace Ronen Bar highlights tensions with security establishment over 'Qatargate' and other issues

May 11, 2025

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with US Senator Lindsey Graham on the Golan Heights in 2019. Graham strongly criticised Netanyahu’s first attempt to appoint a new Shin Bet chief last month (US Embassy Jerusalem, CC2.0).

It used to be the left who worried most about intelligence agencies subverting the Government, Nowadays, its more likely to be the right. One crucial difference is that where the left often saw unchecked executive authority as the problem, and legal constraints as a solution, the right has tended to take the opposite view.

One of the most consequential recent examples of that dynamic has been Israel, where a protracted power struggle over the leadership of the country’s security service ended on 28 April, when Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar announced his resignation effective June 15.

Bar has long been a target for hardliners such as Likud Knesset member Revital Gotlive, who charged two years ago that, ‘the ideology of the left has reached the top echelons of the Shin Bet.’1

Such accusations might seem outlandish given that Shin Bet has regularly been implicated in the torture of Palestinians.2 Yet the agency’s responsibility for dealing with Jewish extremism has contributed to tensions with a Netanyahu Government reliant on far-right support.

Recriminations over October 7 are another factor. While Bar accepted responsibility for Shin Bet’s failure to predict the Hamas attack on southern Israel, a report by the agency also blamed government policies, including the approval of Qatari funding for Gaza.

The Qatari angle also features in the third and most recent source of tension, Shin Bet’s investigation of claims that the Gulf state paid employees of Netanyahu’s office to promote its image in Israel.

It was shortly after Bar launched this probe in March that Netanyahu began trying to fire him, initiating the legal battle that was cut short with Bar’s resignation. The investigation continues to widen, however. Last week it was reported that two former Mossad officers were among those questioned.3

The prospect of a new Shin Bet chief appointed by Netanyahu in June raises obvious questions about the future of the investigation. Yet the long list of rumoured candidates suggests that the Prime Minister is not finding it any easy post to fill.

Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit, the former chief of staff of the Israeli Navy, was offered the job on 31 March.4 The appointment was quickly rescinded after it emerged that Sharvit had taken part in demonstrations against Netanyahu’s judicial reforms, and criticised President Trump.5 The latter comments prompted US Senator Lindsey Graham to warn that the appointment would ‘create unnecessary stress at a critical time.’6
Avi Dichter headed Shin Bet from 2000 until 2005, and is now a Knesset member for Netanyahu’s Likud Party. A number of reports this weekend suggest that could make him a congenial choice for the Prime Minister.7 However, Dichter’s office has told intelligence journalist Yossi Melman that the head of Shin Bet should not be a politician.8
Meir Ben-Shabbat is a former Shin Bet officer who served as national security adviser from 2017 until 2021, and now heads the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, which has advocated depopulating the Gaza Strip.9 Netanyahu reportedly wanted to make him Shin Bet chief in 2021, but lost office before he could so, resulting in Bar’s appointment by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. Ben-Shabbat is another candidate who has reportedly ruled himself out in recent days.10
Yair ‘Ruli’ Sagi served as deputy chief of Shin Bet until 2018, when he was succeeded by Ronen Bar. Until recently his identity was secret, and he was referred to in the media only by the Hebrew initial ‘Resh’ or its Latin equivalent ‘R’. Sagi was previously a candidate for the top job in 2021 but lost out to Bar. One factor in his favour now is that he was not in Shin Bet during October 7, but returned to the agency afterwards.11 Like Ben Shabbat, he is a former head of Shin Bet’s Southern Division, responsible for Gaza.12 Past criticism of Netanyahu, who he accused of ignoring warnings before the 2014 Gaza War, may count against him.13
‘Mem’ or ‘M’ is another former deputy chief whose identity remains secret. He played a central role in Shin Bet’s operations during the current Gaza conflict, before stepping down in 2024, but returned to duty in February to work on hostage and ceasefire negotiations.14 He is a former head of the Shin Bet division covering Jerusalem and the West Bank, where he began his career as a field officer.15
‘Shin or S’ is the current deputy chief of Shin Bet. Although it common practice for deputies to be promoted, he has reportedly been ruled out in recent days on experience grounds due to the recency of his appointment.16
Shalom ben Hanan is a former Shin Bet official who headed the Jerusalem and West Bank Division and the Counterintelligence Division before retiring in 2022.17 He is currently research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (IICT) at Reichman University.18 According to the Jerusalem Post, that affiliation might give Netanyahu pause, but his criticisms of some of Bar’s political interventions may be more congenial19.
Eyal Tzir Cohen is a former Mossad division chief, who spent part of his career in the Shin Bet. He is another candidate affiliated to a think-tank seen as anti-Netanyahu - the Institute for National Security Studies.20

Other options may yet come out of left field, as Sharvit did, but the very breadth of the search suggests that tensions between the Israeli security establishment and political leadership are not confined to the outgoing Shin Bet chief.

Those tensions will bear watching in the coming days as Israel plans it re-occupation of Gaza, and as Donald Trump visits the Middle East, having introduced a chink into the US-Israel alliance through his truce deal in Yemen.

Moran Azulay, Nir Cohen, Atilla Somfalvi, Sharon Kidron, Yishai Shnerb; Coalition members warn 'deep state' infiltrated Shin Bet, Ynetnews.com, 6 August 2023.

PCAT Report 2023, Public Committee Against Torture in Israel.

Jeremy Sharon, Two former Mossad officials suspected of working with Qatari intelligence — reports, Times of Israel, 9 May 2025.

Lazar Berman and Emanuel Fabian, Netanyahu picks former Navy commander Eli Sharvit to be next head of Shin Bet, Times of Israel, 31 March 2025.

Yonah Jeremy Bob and Mathilda Heller, Netanyahu rescinds appointment of new Shin Bet chief after one day, Jerusalem Post, 1 April 2025.

Lindsey Graham, X Post, 31 March 2025.

Ex-Shin Bet chief Dichter, now a Likud minister, said among PM’s candidates to head agency, Times of Israel, 11 May 2025.

Yossi Melman, X Post, 10 May 2025.

Jonathan Adler, South into the Sinai: Will Israel Force Palestinians Out of Gaza? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 31 October 2023.

Yonah Jeremy Bob, Who are Netanyahu's new candidates to replace Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar? - explainer, Jerusalem Post, 26 March 2025.

Itamar Eichner, Who will replace Ronen Bar? Netanyahu begins interviews for next Shin Bet chief, Ynetnews, 26 March 2025.

Yonah Jeremy Bob, Who are Netanyahu's new candidates to replace Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar? - explainer, Jerusalem Post, 26 March 2025.

Itamar Eichner, Who will replace Ronen Bar? Netanyahu begins interviews for next Shin Bet chief, Ynetnews, 26 March 2025.