Anti-government protesters rally against David Zini’s appointment as Shin Bet chief outside Har Hamor Yeshiva

Dozens of anti-government protesters demonstrate in Jerusalem outside the ultraconservative Har Hamor Yeshiva in opposition to the appointment of former IDF general David Zini as Shin Bet chief.

Zini, who studied at the yeshiva, is Netanyahu’s contentious pick to helm the internal security agency. His candidacy was approved by a key committee this morning, effectively guaranteeing him the position.

Protesters gathering outside the yeshiva in East Jerusalem, call Zini an “illegitimate candidate” and are imploring the High Court of Justice to nullify his candidacy, arguing his views should preclude him from heading the Shin Bet.

“There are preconditions that a gatekeeper must meet,” says demonstrator Matanel Ciechanowski, who accuses Zini of following “a very extremist ideology that is also connected to a certain party which advances homophobia, Jewish supremacy.”

Rabbi Zvi Tau, who heads the Har Hamor Yeshiva that Zini attended, is also the spiritual leader of the far-right, anti-LGBTQ Noam party.

Zini himself is a self-styled “messianic” and has reportedly derided the judicial system as a “dictatorship” that rules over the State of Israel.

Students at the yeshiva are filmed pouring water on the protesters from the upper floors of the building, but the demonstrators remain where they are on the front steps of the yeshiva.