Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be allowed to choose the next head of the Shin Bet in two months.
JNS Staff
(JNS)
The Netanyahu government and the Attorney General’s Office informed the High Court of Justice last week that they reached a compromise on appointing the next head of the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet.
According to the July 8 agreement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be allowed to forward his choice for director of the agency in two months. By Sept. 11, he will submit his candidate, IDF Maj. Gen. (res.) David Zini, to the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee.
The compromise will avoid conflicts of interest, according to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Sixty days is enough time for the Shin Bet to wrap up two investigations: “Qatar-gate” and “Bild.”
In Qatar-gate, Netanyahu associates are suspected of having illicit ties with the Gulf state. In, Bild, a communications consultant working for the prime minister is suspected of leaking classified documents.
The current interim head of the Shin Bet, whose name has not been released to the public, will fill the post until the new director is appointed.
The previous Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, stepped down on June 15, ending his tenure prematurely. Netanyahu’s had announced his intention to dismiss Bar on March 16. “I have an ongoing lack of trust in the head of the Shin Bet, a lack of trust that has grown over time,” he said.
The prime minister had reportedly wanted to oust Bar for months due to the Shin Bet’s failure in the run-up to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks.
Several members of the political opposition accused Netanyahu of firing Bar to suppress the Qatar-gate investigation.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid of the Yesh Atid Party claimed on March 16: “For a year and a half, [Netanyahu] saw no reason to fire him, but only when the investigation into Qatar’s infiltration of Netanyahu’s office and the funds transferred to his closest aides began did he suddenly feel an urgency to fire him immediately.”
Netanyahu insisted that the accusations by opposition members reversed the timeline. The Qatar-gate investigation was initiated after Bar realized he would be fired, he said.
On March 22, the prime minister released a video statement in which he said that the decision to fire Bar took place long before the Qatar-gate investigation started. The delay in Bar’s firing was due to his decision to wait until the Shin Bet had submitted a report on the organization’s failures on Oct. 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas invasion.
In the video, Netanyahu said Bar had requested that submission of the report be delayed until Feb. 27. On that day, instead of his receiving a report about the Shin Bet’s failings, the prime minister received the news that the attorney general had opened the Qatar-gate investigation.
“The firing wasn’t meant to prevent the investigation. The investigation was meant to prevent the firing,” Netanyahu concluded in the video.
Image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds a press conference on the multifront war, Dec. 9, 2024. Photo by Ma’ayan Toaf/GPO.
