Israel’s Netanyahu picks new security chief, defying legal challenge

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu picked former navy commander Eli Sharvit to head the domestic security agency, his office said Monday, despite the supreme court freezing the incumbent’s dismissal.

Netanyahu moved to oust current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on March 21, after citing an “ongoing lack of trust” in the head of the agency.

But after petitions filed by Israel’s opposition and a non-governmental organisation, the supreme court suspended the dismissal of Bar, whose relationship with the government strained after he blamed the executive for the security fiasco of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

“After conducting in-depth interviews with seven worthy candidates, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to appoint former Israel navy commander, Vice-Admiral Eli Sharvit as the next director of the ISA (Shin Bet),” his office said in a statement.

It remains unclear how and when Sharvit will formally assume leadership of the agency given the supreme court ruling on Bar’s dismissal is still pending.

Netanyahu’s office said Sharvit had served in the military for 36 years, including five as navy commander.

“In that position, he led the force building of the maritime defence of the territorial waters and conducted complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” the statement said.

In its initial ruling, the supreme court said the freeze would remain in place until the appeals are presented before April 8.

“Things are proceeding in parallel as the supreme court allowed him to interview candidates for the post while legal proceedings are still on in the court,” a legal expert on the issue told AFP on condition of anonymity.

“The question of how legal is the dismissal (of Bar) is still pending in the supreme court and it could still be cancelled by the court.”

The expert said Netanyahu, by choosing the next Shin Bet chief was “establishing facts on the ground”.

“It might be an attempt to influence the court.”

– Protests, criticism –

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara had said immediately after the March 21 ruling that Netanyahu was “prohibited” from appointing a new Shin Bet chief.

Baharav-Miara even said she suspects Netanyahu of having a conflict of interest.

But Netanyahu insisted it was up to his government to decide who heads the domestic security agency.

Bar’s relationship with the Netanyahu government was strained after he blamed the executive for the security fiasco of Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

It was further strained by a Shin Bet investigation into a case dubbed in media reports as “Qatargate” over alleged covert payments to a Netanyahu aide from Qatar.

Baharav-Miara was also critical previously of the government’s judicial overhaul project, which she said threatened to make Israel a “democracy in name but not in spirit”.

That reform sparked months of mass protests across Israel, deeply dividing society, and was officially suspended by the government following the start of the Gaza war sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

It has since been revived, however.

Thousands of Israelis protested last week to decry Bar’s dismissal, and to call for the return of the hostages being held in Gaza.

They also protested against Israeli parliament’s decision to pass a law expanding the power of politicians over the appointment of judges pushed by Netanyahu’s government, one of the most right-wing in the history of Israel.

-AFP