Government cancels decision to fire Shin Bet chief Bar in wake of his resignation
Watchdog group calls decision ‘a cynical and transparent trick’ to stop High Court ruling on allegations Bar was fired for PM’s personal and political purposes
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The government canceled its decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in a cabinet resolution approved Tuesday afternoon, following Bar’s announcement the day before that he would resign his position on June 15.
Immediately after the resolution was approved, the government filed a request with the High Court of Justice to annul petitions that had been filed against the government’s decision to fire Bar since that decision has now been rescinded.
The court, in response, ordered the petitioners, the attorney general, and all other sides to the motions to respond by May 7. The moves by Bar and the government are likely to avert a brewing constitutional crisis.
Canceling the decision will likely mean that the High Court of Justice will not rule on the substance of the petitions, which alleged it was political and personal motivations that prompted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire Bar, and also pointed to severe procedural flaws in the process to remove him from office.
The court could, however, forbid Netanyahu from involvement in appointing Bar’s replacement while criminal investigations into his close aides by the Shin Bet continue, and make general comments about what kind of instructions the prime minister can give to the head of the Shin Bet.
The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, one of the primary petitioners against the decision to fire Bar, described the government’s decision to cancel its firing of Bar as “a cynical and transparent trick designed to stop a principled decision by the High Court.”
The petitioners allege that Bar’s dismissal was tainted by severe procedural flaws, as well as political and personal considerations, including the Qatargate investigation into Netanyahu’s advisers.
They had sought a ruling on the substance of those claims, especially given Bar’s affidavit to the court alleging that Netanyahu made several ostensibly unlawful requests of the Shin Bet head, so that the court would clearly demarcate what is and is not lawful for the prime minister to ask the head of the domestic security agency.
The Movement for Quality Government said it would still request a “principled ruling” on the substance of the petitions despite the government’s request to cancel.
Bar was fired by the government on March 21 on Netanyahu’s recommendation, who said he had lost confidence in the Shin Bet leader’s ability to do the job. However, government watchdog groups and subsequently Bar himself alleged he was dismissed not for professional reasons but due to his defiance of the prime minister on several key issues.
The government resolution on Tuesday, canceling Bar’s dismissal, stated that Bar resigned “too late” and that the date of his resignation was also “too late,” but that the government would use the time before his departure to find a new Shin Bet chief.
The text of resolution also explained that the decision to fire Bar was being canceled due to the “ongoing crisis between the branches of government during a war of resurrection,” along with the country’s “severe security situation” the government wanted to “focus the national effort on security issues, the need for internal unity,” especially on the eve of Israeli Remembrance Day and Independence Day, which fall Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
The government also appended Bar’s formal resignation letter to the government in its request to the court to annul the petitions.
Bar said that he was resigning “with a bowed head to the murdered, the dead, the wounded, the hostages and their families, to whom we did not provide security on that day,” in reference to the October 7 attacks.
The petitions had caused significant concern over a constitutional crisis, with cabinet ministers threatening to disobey or work around a court ruling declaring Bar’s dismissal to be unlawful.
Only 20 of the 34 cabinet ministers voted in favor of the resolution, with several Religious Zionism and Otzma Yehudit ministers reportedly not voting in favor.
“We will not let Netanyahu evade a judicial decision through tactical maneuvers,” said the Movement for Quality Government in response to the cancellation of Bar’s dismissal.
“The serious flaws in the dismissal process, the improper motivation for dismissing Bar amid the Qatargate investigation, and the ongoing disregard for the rule of law require a principled ruling that will regulate the relationship between the government and the Shin Bet and protect the independence of the gatekeepers.”
Prof. Barak Medina of the Hebrew University’s Faculty of Law said he believed the High Court will likely agree to cancel the petitions against the initial decision to fire Bar.
But within that framework, the court might also stipulate that Netanyahu cannot be involved in the process to appoint a new Shin Bet chief as long as the Shin Bet’s investigations into the prime minister’s aides in connection with the Qatargate affair and the classified documents scandal are ongoing.
This would be legally binding, said Medina.
The court may well also want to comment on the allegations raised by the petitions, and may comment on the relationship between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet, and make general remarks to the effect that the Shin Bet is required to act in accordance with the law and may not act in accordance with the political interests of the serving government or prime minister.
The court will be more inclined to make this kind of statement in light of the severe allegations Bar made in his affidavit to the court of unlawful requests he received from Netanyahu, Medina stated.
These comments would not be strictly legally binding, however, since they would be ancillary to the ruling itself to annul the petitions.
The Times of Israel Community.