March 31 (UPI) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he had appointed a new head of domestic intelligence despite the sitting Shin Bet director Ronen Bar still being in post after his dismissal was blocked by the High Court.
Netanyahu selected retired Israel Navy Commander Vice-Admiral Eli Sharvit to head up the Israeli Security Agency from a panel of seven candidates, his office said in a news release.
“Vice Admiral Sharvit served in the IDF for 36 years, including five years as Commander of the Israel Navy. In that position, he led the force building of the maritime defense of the territorial waters and conducted complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.”
The prime minister’s office said the agency was a “meritorious” institution that had gone through a major upheaval in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel [due to its failure to detect or prevent it] but that the prime minister was “convinced that Vice Admiral Sharvit is the appropriate person to lead the ISA in such a way that will continue its glorious tradition.”
Sharvit will be vetted by a committee that will consider among other things, his participation in protests against government reforms curbing the authority of Israel’s judiciary and lack of Arabic language skills and Palestinian affairs experience.
The Israeli cabinet voted to fire Bar on March 21 but the decision was frozen by the High Court pending an April 8 hearing.
The High Court of Justice issued the temporary injunction blocking Bar’s removal from office after opposition and civil society groups petitioned judges alleging the decision to fire Bar “was made despite a conflict of interest on the part of the prime minister, with ulterior motives,” referring to a corruption investigation by Bar of Netanyahu’s office known as “Qatar-gate.”
The petitioners also cited the government’s refusal to set up a commission of inquiry into the intelligence and military failures related to Oct. 7.
The court injunction paused Netanyahu’s dismissal of Bar but allowed him to interview potential replacements.
Bar had been leading a probe ordered by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara into allegations aides close to Netanyahu held paid positions to lobby on behalf of the government of Qatar, which hosts a Hamas representative office in Doha.
Netanyahu persuaded his cabinet to vote to dismiss Bar on grounds he had not been tough enough in Israel’s negotiations with Hamas and was “not the right person to rehabilitate” Shinbet following its failures.
Baharav-Miara is fighting for her own job after the cabinet backed a no-confidence motion in her after ministers accused her of undermining the government and holding it in contempt. A public committee will now consider removing her.
She said the move by the cabinet did “not seek to promote trust but rather loyalty to the political leadership, not governance but . . . power without limits.
“The government is seeking to be above the law and to act without checks and balances, even in extremely sensitive periods.”
The crisis has seen thousands of Israelis protesting the resumption of the war in Gaza with the effort to fire Bar and Baharav-Miara seen as proof Netanyahu is less concerned with best interests of Israelis, including getting hostages back, than he is in avoiding his legal day of reckoning.
Netanyahu said he resumed attacks on Hamas to get the remaining hostages out but it has prompted far-right parties to come to his rescue, lending support to his fragile Likud party-led coalition government.
Renewed military action in Gaza has also seen his corruption trial paused.
