Ex-Shin Bet chief Dichter, now a Likud minister, said among PM’s candidates to head agency
Netanyahu reportedly weighing making ‘professional appointment’ for 2 years to revitalize the agency, but Dichter says the idea of him as a candidate is ‘delusional’
In his ongoing search for a new head for the Shin Bet security service, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering appointing Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter from his Likud party — a former Shin Bet chief — to the post, Hebrew media reports said Saturday.
Current agency chief Ronen Bar will step down on June 15, even as the Supreme Court weighs petitions against the cabinet’s decision in March to fire him — a decision the cabinet rescinded when he agreed to resign last month. Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has urged the High Court of Justice to nevertheless issue a ruling on the legality of Bar’s firing, contending this is necessary to ensure that the next head of the security service can stand up to “illegitimate pressures.”
Dichter headed the Shin Bet from 2000 to 2005, and is regarded as having played a central role in subduing the Second Intifada. He joined politics in 2005, first in Ariel Sharon’s Kadima party and then moving to Netanyahu’s Likud in 2012.
A Channel 12 report said Dichter’s name first came up a month ago and has again been raised recently, though Netanyahu is also considering numerous other candidates. In Dichter’s case, the report said, Netanyahu is thinking of placing him in the post for two years as a “professional appointment” to revitalize the agency.
Haaretz reported similar details, adding that Netanyahu is highly interested in tapping a successor to Bar who will be supported by Likud members, a criterion Dichter meets.
Dichter would likely be endorsed, as needed, by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, although there could be issues regarding his immediate shift from government minister to security chief without a cooling-off period.
The minister reacted to the reports by claiming he opposes his own candidacy for the job.
“Agriculture and Food Security Minister MK Avi Dichter is a political person in the Likud party,” a tweet on his behalf said. “He is of the opinion that there is no possibility of appointing a politician as Shin Bet head.
“Therefore, anyone who proposes me as a candidate is either delusional or detached from reality.”
On Friday, Dichter wrote on X that following its failures surrounding the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught, the Shin Bet is in need of a reform that goes much deeper than just replacing its head.
The Times of Israel Community.