From the Liveblog of
Monday, July 1, 2024
Ben Gvir calls for dismissal of Shin Bet chief after Shifa director freed
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir calls for Ronen Bar, the director of the Shin Bet security service, to be fired, in a private WhatsApp conversation with other members of the cabinet.
According to leaked conversations published by Kan news reporter Michael Shemesh, the far-right minister wrote in the group chat that “the time has come to send the head of the Shin Bet home.” His comments come after the news broke that Israel freed the director of Gaza’s Shifa Hospital, where Hamas kept Israeli hostages following October 7.
Israeli prisons have become overcrowded following the outbreak of war on October 7, prompting the announcement of an “incarceration emergency,” which paved the way for the temporary lifting of restrictions on housing conditions for prisoners.
The government has repeatedly allocated funds to add additional space for prisoners, most recently in April when a NIS 225 million budget cut went into effect across the government to pay for expanding the prison system’s capacity, at Ben Gvir’s insistence.
Interior Minister Moshe Arbel challenges Ben Gvir about this on WhatsApp, asking, “Where is your responsibility in this matter?”
In response, Ben Gvir replies: “We immediately added 500 spots” and are adding capacity, to which Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi interjects that “releasing terrorists due to ‘lack of space’ is nothing more than a lame excuse.”
The Times of Israel Community.