The far-right Otzma Yehudit party took out a paid ad against Shin Bet leader Ronen Bar in several newspapers on Sunday morning. The ad said: “Ronen Bar failed on October 7 and is leading Israel into another disaster. Say no to a reckless deal.”
The complaint followed a letter from Bar to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, published on Channel 12 on Thursday, in which the Shin Bet chief warned that recent Jewish terrorist acts had brought the country to the brink of disaster.
In the letter, Bar said the phenomenon had worsened in part because Jewish terrorists felt they were “supported” by certain members of the government. In the letter, Bar also criticized Ben-Gvir’s recent visit to the Temple Mount, during which large numbers of Jews prayed openly, a violation of the government’s status quo policy.
The parties in the Knesset receive state funding, and opposition leader Yair Lapid demanded in a video message later Sunday that the state ombudsman Otzma Yehudit impose a fine for “inappropriate use of public funds” and prevent any further publication of the ad.
Yesh Atid party member Naor Shiri sent a letter with a similar request to Ombudsman Matanyahu Englman. Another Yesh Atid MP, Shelly Tal-Meron, wrote a letter to the Knesset Ethics Committee, urging the committee to ask the party to remove the ad and publicly apologize.
Lapid’s further comments
“Ben-Gvir should have been fired today, but Netanyahu has lost control and the disaster government continues to dismantle the country,” Lapid said. In a written statement earlier Sunday, Lapid called Ben-Gvir an “unstable fool” for paying for a complaint against “a real patriot and fighter, such as Ben-Gvir never was and never will be.”
Democratic Party leader Yair Golan wrote on X: “There is no party that has done more damage to Israel’s security than Otzma Yehudit, and we will always remember who brought him into government.”
