High Court hearing petition demanding Netanyahu be permitted to nominate Shin Bet chief, despite AG’s position

The High Court of Justice begins a hearing on a petition demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be able to nominate the next Shin Bet chief, despite the attorney general’s determination that he cannot do so due to a conflict of interest.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara issued a position paper in May stating that since the High Court of Justice found Netanyahu to have had a conflict of interest in firing previous Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, he therefore has the same legal difficulty in hiring his replacement.

That conflict of interest stems from the criminal investigations the Shin Bet security service is conducting, together with the police, against the prime minister’s close aides in the leaked documents and Qatargate scandals.

The attorney general determined that, therefore, Netanyahu must delegate his authority to another cabinet minister to nominate the next Shin Bet chief and that the Attorney General’s Office should supervise the entire process.

Netanyahu nevertheless went ahead and nominated Maj. Gen. David Zini to be the next Shin Bet chief, with the Attorney General’s Office swiftly declaring that the nomination was severely flawed.

A right-leaning grouping of families bereaved by terror attacks called Choose Life petitioned the High Court against the attorney general’s position, arguing that it was harming Israeli security by preventing the swift appointment of a new Shin Bet chief.

A second petition was filed to the court against the attorney general’s position by an organization called the Civil Democratic Movement which makes the opposite argument, that the attorney general’s solution is too accommodating of the government, and that the entire process for nominating the next Shin Bet chief should be put in the hands of a non-governmental, professional committee.

Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, a liberal, will preside over today’s hearing for both petitions, together with Judge Alex Stein and Judge Gila Canfy Steinitz, both moderate conservatives.

Amit was head of the three-judge panel which ruled in May that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in firing Bar.