Anti-corruption watchdog chief says PM will have to recuse himself if he defies court on new Shin Bet chief pick

Eliad Shraga, head of the Movement for Quality Government anti-corruption watchdog, tells some 1,000 anti-government protesters at Habima Square that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be forced to recuse himself if he defies the order of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, based on this week’s High Court ruling, not to appoint a new Shin Bet chief, given the premier’s conflict of interest stemming from the security agency’s probe of his top aides’ alleged criminal ties to Hamas-backer Qatar.

Despite the orders of Baharav-Miara, whom the government plans to oust, Netanyahu announced this week that he would appoint Maj. Gen. David Zini to the role of Shin Bet chief

Addressing Netanyahu, Shraga, whose movement successfully petitioned the court to pause Netanyahu’s dismissal of incumbent Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, says: “Remember, if you defy the ruling, and if you defy the orders of the attorney general, you’re on the way to recusal. You’ve been warned.”

Though Bar has announced he would resign next month anyway, the court considered the principle of his dismissal, and found it had been decided on in a flawed procedure.

Shraga calls the ruling “pivotal,” adding that “every future Shin Bet chief will sleep with it under their pillow.”

“The ruling determined that the Shin Bet head’s loyalty lies with the kingdom, not the king,” he says. Rising to a yell, he adds: “We will not allow the Shin Bet’s tools to be used against protesters” — something Bar said in an affidavit to the court that Netanyahu had pressured him to do.