The Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, arrested the agent who leaked its investigation into the Ministry of National Security to the government and the press. Due to the escalating crisis, the security meeting was canceled.

According to Israel’s state television channel KAN, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled today’s security meeting planned between the government and the security agency due to the growing crisis. Extreme right-wing Finance Minister of Israel, Bezalel Smotrich, announced that he would boycott the meeting if Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar attended.

Smotirch, in a post from his X account, stated, “Bar has been removed from his position and is a failed Shin Bet Director who cannot participate in security discussions.” He claimed that Bar uses the intelligence and investigation mechanism as a tool for revenge against politicians and journalists for his own personal interests, describing him as “dangerous.”

According to KAN’s report, if the Israeli Supreme Court cancels the decision to remove Bar from his position, the ministers were planning to boycott Bar, a move that Netanyahu was reportedly in favor of. It was revealed today that Shin Bet had previously arrested the agent who leaked the information that Shin Bet was investigating the Ministry of National Security to the government and the media about a week ago.

During the term of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, the investigation conducted by Shin Bet, which indicated an increase in members of the Jewish supremacist Kah movement recognized by the US as a terrorist organization in the ministry and the police force, sparked frequent debates in the country. Following the leak that Shin Bet had initiated the aforementioned investigation, reports surfaced that an official, with the code name “Agent A,” from the domestic intelligence service had been arrested in connection with an ongoing investigation.

Israeli government officials strongly criticized the new investigation opened against the internal intelligence agency Shin Bet Director, whom Netanyahu had been trying to dismiss.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu met with Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar and informed him that the government would dismiss him, justifying his decision with the growing lack of trust. The Chief Justice of the Israeli Supreme Court, Isaac Amit, had issued a temporary injunction preventing the removal of intelligence chief Bar from his position and the appointment of a replacement. Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Bar had sparked heated debates in Israeli politics, leading to mass demonstrations throughout the country following calls from the opposition.