AG says Netanyahu can’t fire Shin Bet chief without recommendation of appointments panel

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara tells Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he cannot fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar until he receives a recommendation on the matter from the key Senior Appointments Advisory Committee.

In a sharply worded letter to Netanyahu in response to an angry missive he sent the attorney general yesterday, Baharav-Miara tells the premier that he cannot even hold a cabinet meeting on firing Bar due to the need for the advisory committee’s input.

The Senior Appointments Advisory Committee vets candidates for seven of the country’s most critical civil service positions, and a 2016 cabinet resolution stipulates that the committee must sign off on the dismissal of any official that the panel previously approved.

Baharav-Miara says that firing the head of the Shin Bet is “unprecedented” and requires “an orderly and proper process on a solid factual foundation” for Bar to receive an opportunity to present his response to the claims against him.

The attorney general adds that such claims could not be made for the first time in the hearing given to the Shin Bet chief.

Baharav-Miara also rejects Netanyahu’s assertion in his letter that she ordered an investigation by the Shin Bet and police into possible illicit ties between the prime minister’s senior aides and Qatar after she learned that Netanyahu was considering firing Bar.

Members of the coalition have alleged that the attorney general opened the so-called Qatar-gate investigation in order to stymie Netanyahu’s desire to fire Bar, on the grounds that he could not be dismissed by the prime minister while he was investigating his aides.

“The order of events speaks for itself: first an investigation was opened, on the basis of information that was received, and only afterwards did you announce your intention to fire the head of the Shin Bet,” Baharav-Miara tells Netanyahu.