Ronen Bar

Ronen Bar (Hebrew: רונן בר; born 1966) is an Israeli intelligence officer and the director of Shin Bet since 13 October 2021. He previously served as deputy head of Shin Bet. Bar was appointed by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his nomination was approved by Israel's cabinet on 11 October 2021. He assumed office on 13 October 2021.

Bar served in the Israel Defense Forces’ Sayeret Matkal unit. He joined Shin Bet as a field agent in 1993, and in 2011 was named head of Shin Bet's Operations Division. Bar became head of the resource development department in 2016, and became Shin Bet deputy chief in 2018.

Bar is expected to serve as director until 2026.

In an all-staff memo made public on Monday, 16 October 2023, Bar took responsibility for failing to thwart the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas. "The responsibility is mine. Despite a series of actions we carried out, unfortunately, on Saturday we were unable to establish sufficient deterrence so as to thwart the attack," he wrote. "There will be time for investigations. Now we are fighting."

Bar's wife, Dafna, is a sister of entrepreneur Shai Agassi.