From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 31, 2025
Coalition members urge Netanyahu to rethink appointment of next Shin Bet head
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Multiple members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition condemn his choice of former Navy commander Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit as the next commander of the Shin Bet security service due to his participation in demonstrations against the government’s judicial overhaul agenda.
“Replacing a person with a Kaplanist worldview with another person with a similar worldview does not solve the problem, but only perpetuates it in a different framework,” argues Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu (Otzma Yehudit), referring to anti-government protests held on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
“If we want to strengthen the democratic system, we must ensure that those at the head of strategic organizations like the Shin Bet are committed to a concept that respects the will of the people as expressed in democratic election processes,” Eliyahu tweets.
Sharvit is “not suitable to head the Shin Bet,” tweets Likud lawmaker Tally Gotliv, who predicts that the appointment will not be carried out in the end. Gotliv says that there are right-wing figures who “are very worthy and highly qualified” and “are very suitable for the position of head of the Shin Bet.”
“If he protests, he will not be the head of the Shin Bet. Let him continue to protest,” Likud MK Nissim Vaturi tells the Knesset Channel.
Sources say Netanyahu is reconsidering the appointment, and it is growing increasingly unlikely that Sharvit will end up replacing current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
The Times of Israel Community.