Otzma Yehudit slams Shin Bet head in newspaper ad

The far-right Otzma Yehudit party ran a paid ad in a number of newspapers on Sunday morning against Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. The ad read, “Ronen Bar failed on October 7 and is leading Israel to another disaster. Say no to a reckless deal.”

The ad came in the wake of a letter by Bar addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published on Thursday on Channel 12, in which the Shin Bet head warned that recent acts of Jewish terror have taken the country to the brink of disaster.

In the letter, Bar said that the phenomenon had worsened partly due to Jewish terrorists feeling that they had “backing” from 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, in violation of the government’s status quo policy.

Parties in the Knesset receive state funding, and opposition leader MK Yair Lapid demanded in a video statement later on Sunday that the State Ombudsman fine Otzma Yehudit for “inappropriate use of public funds,” and to cancel any further publication of the ad.

Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri of Yesh Atid sent a letter to the ombudsman, Matanyahu Englman, with a similar request. Another Yesh Atid MK, Shelly Tal-Meron, penned a letter to the Knesset Ethics Committee, requesting that the committee demand that the party remove the ad, and issue a public apology.

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 on Sunday, Lapid called Ben-Gvir an “unstable buffoon” in paying for an ad against “a real patriot and fighter, the likes of which Ben-Gvir never was and never will be.”

Democrats party leader Yair Golan wrote on X that “there is no party that has caused more harm to Israel’s security than Otzma Yehudit, and we will forever remember who brought him into the government.”