Please note: This website includes an accessibility system. Press Control-F11 to adjust the website to the visually impaired who are using a screen reader; Press Control-F10 to open an accessibility menu.
menu-control
The Jerusalem Post Logo - Bring them home now
accessibilty

Shin Bet

The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) is the Jewish state's primary internal security service, focusing primarily on internal security, exposing terrorist rings, and intelligence efforts in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Also known as the Shabak, it makes up one of the three arms of Israel's intelligence community, alongside the Mossad (foreign intelligence) and Aman (military intelligence). 

Like the Mossad, despite being a security agency, the Shin Bet does not operate under the Defense Ministry and instead answers to the prime minister.

The current head of the Shin Bet is Ronen Bar, appointed in 2021 by then-prime minister Naftali Bennett.

Read More
Less
A Palestinian Hamas terrorist speaks with a Stephanie Eller before the release of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly October 7, 2023 attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, February 15, 2025.

Almost half of Israelis do not think you can remove Hamas and release hostages

 MK Tally Gotliv speaks outside the court in Tel Aviv during a case against Eli Feldstein, November 21, 2024

How Israeli lawmakers from the Right and Left view High Court’s ruling on Shin Bet head

By Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line
Palestinian security personnel and mourners seen in the West Bank city of Nablus, December 27, 2024

Four Palestinians indicted for ax attack, attempting ramming

 Palestinian Hamas gather at the site of the handing over of the bodies of four Israeli hostages in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza on February 20, 2025.

IDF, Shin Bet kill eleven terrorists who participated in Oct 7

 Haitham Razek abd al-Karim Sheikh Khalil

IDF kills Hamas commander that infiltrated Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct.7

 Illustrative image of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar superimposed on an image of Israelis protesting judicial reform.

Netanyahu must choose compromise to preserve Israel's democracy

 Ohad Tal, 2022.

Coalition MK calls for parliamentary inquiry into Shin Bet Jewish department

 Security forces operate in Nablus, the West Bank, April 9, 2025.

Israel security forces apprehend two terrorists, one member of 'Lion's Den'

 Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services and Mossad chief David Barnea attend a farewell ceremony in his honor, at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024.

IDF, Mossad, Shin Bet heads not invited to security cabinet discussion

 Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, at a state ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 of last year which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024.

Shin Bet politicization dangerous to Israel's security, rights of Israelis

By ERAN SHAMIR-BORER , AMICHAI COHEN
 Israeli public opinion the government following the High Courts ruling on the firing of Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar.

Israeli public divided on government obeying High Court's Shin Bet ruling

 The High Court of Justice convenes in Jerusalem on April 8, 2025

High Court freezes firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar until later decision

 Avishai Moalem arrives to the Police Internal Investigations Department, in Jerusalem, February 4, 2025

Is the mask coming off? Shin Bet's political weaponization exposed

By AVI ABELOW
 Yoram Cohen, then chief of Israel's Shin Bet internal security service, attends a session of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in the parliament in Jerusalem May 30, 2012.

Former Shin Bet head: Netanyahu asked me to use intelligence powers for personal political gain

 Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services attends a ceremony held at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, as Israel marks the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day. May 5, 2024

High Court to hear arguments for, against firing of Bar

 (L-R) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar over the flag of Qatar (illustrative)

Is a constitutional crisis brewing in Israel over Shin Bet head's dismissal?

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks in the Knesset plenum, in Jerusalem, March 25, 2025

High Court cannot force government to retain Bar as Shin Bet head, says Smotrich

 Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security services, at a state ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7 of last year which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024.

'Loyalist’ Shin Bet head could dismantle democracy, says Israel Democracy Institute VP