Ex-Shin Bet chief says PM asked him to carry out ‘illegitimate acts,’ worries agency’s next head won’t refuse such demands

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen says that during his tenure as the head of the security agency, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked him more than once to carry out “illegitimate acts,” and voices concern that the next head of the security agency will not stand up to him in the face of such demands.

In an interview with Channel 12, Cohen says that the Shin Bet’s ability to do its job as expected will depend on who is selected to replace Ronen Bar, now that Netanyahu’s cabinet has voted in favor of his dismissal.

“If he [Bar] finishes his tenure, and one of the two current deputy chiefs or a past deputy is appointed, all three of whom are worthy people, then I think we can rest assured that people will do their job,” says Cohen.

But, he warns, if someone other than the three current or former deputies is selected, “it could lead to a situation where someone comes in who feels ‘obligated’ to the prime minister. He will enter the position deterred from doing the job.”

“The prime minister, due to many things that await us in the future,  could make illegitimate demands of him. The prime minister makes illegitimate demands of the Shin Bet chief,” Cohen says.

Asked whether he is making such assertions due to personal experience, Cohen says that Netanyahu had, on more than one occasion, asked him for things that were “illegitimate and questionably legal.” He says Netanyahu asked the same of his successor, Nadav Argaman, and of Bar.

He says that Israel could find itself with a Shin Bet chief who “does things out of non-state loyalty,” and who takes action against opponents of the prime minister for “political subversion.”

Cohen previously alleged that in 2011, Netanyahu asked him to wiretap the government’s top defense officials to ensure that they were not leaking information from a particularly sensitive security meeting.

During the interview with Channel 12, Cohen also lambasts government ministers for going along with Netanyahu’s decision to fire Bar.

“These incidents of the Shin Bet chief’s dismissal, as well as the imminent dismissal of [Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara], will inevitably lead to difficult fights within society, and to greater rifts and divisions,” he says.  “Unfortunately, this will lead to violence within Israeli society and it won’t just be Prime Minster Netanyahu’s problem, but the entire government’s problem.”

“They know where this is going, and they are acting like sheep, silent and unquestioning,” the ex-Shin Bet chief charges. “They are clinging to their seats because of governmental, political, economic, and financial interests.”