Government urges High Court to withdraw injunction freezing Shin Bet head’s ouster
Netanyahu said to include Ronen Bar in security assessment about hostages, after cancelling previous meeting that finance minister vowed to boycott if security chief participated
The government on Wednesday submitted a message to the High Court of Justice demanding that it rescind the temporary injunction issued earlier this month freezing the dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted in March to fire Bar, citing a breakdown in trust. The unprecedented ouster — which came amid a high-profile, ongoing Shin Bet investigation into several of Netanyahu’s close aides — was immediately challenged. The court ruled two weeks ago that, while a compromise is being sought on the procedure used to fire Bar, he cannot in the meantime be removed from his position.
The government’s message to the court on Wednesday was included as an addendum to a legal opinion filed by a lawyer for Boaz Miran, brother of Gaza hostage Omri Miran and a member of the hawkish Tikva Forum.
The government argued that delaying the implementation of Bar’s ouster “deals a critical blow to the fulfillment of the goals of the Shin Bet.”
It cited the recent revelation about the head of the Shin Bet’s Jewish Division being recorded saying he authorizes arrests of settlers without evidence, as well as last week’s arrest of a Shin Bet member suspected of leaking classified material to politicians and journalists.
This raises the possibility of “actions committed in conflict of interest, with miscarriage of justice, using draconian measures for purely personal purposes,” the government alleged.
“The continuation of a situation in which a failed security agency head, whom the government has unanimously voted no-confidence in, continues to serve under an interim judicial order, is a governance anomaly and is a danger to national security. Every day, the danger is growing and the damages of the situation accumulate,” it said.
PM said to include Bar in meeting about hostages
On Wednesday evening, Netanyahu invited Bar to participate in an over-the-phone security discussion, the Ynet news site reported, citing unnamed sources within the Prime Minister’s Office.
The PMO later announced that Netanyahu held a situational assessment regarding the 59 hostages being held in Gaza, “together with his hostage negotiating team and senior defense officials.” The statement did not name Bar explicitly, but was presumably referring to the same meeting.
Bar’s apparent inclusion followed the cancellation of the previous evening’s scheduled security cabinet meeting about the war in Gaza and ongoing hostage negotiations, after Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he would not attend if Bar was invited.
The far-right minister’s refusal came amid a wave of coalition criticism of the security agency head over the investigation into a leak of classified information from a Shin Bet agent to journalists and a cabinet minister.
The Shin Bet official accused of leaking the information was released from detention to house arrest on Wednesday. Due to a gag order on some details of the case, the suspect can only be identified in media reports by the Hebrew initial “Aleph.”
The security official is accused of having leaked material related to a Shin Bet probe into far-right ideology taking root in the police force under National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
The revelation of Aleph’s arrest brought to a boil the already simmering tensions between the Netanyahu government and the security and judicial systems, with outraged ministers claiming the probe as evidence of a “deep state” working to oust the government.
The Times of Israel Community.