High Court judges skeptical of petition against Shin Bet chief appointment

Judges on the High Court of Justice appear unimpressed by a petition asking them to annul the appointment of David Zini as Shin Bet chief, asserting that the claims made by the petitioners that Zini was an inappropriate choice to head the domestic security agency were based on media reports alone.

“I read your petition. It’s a collection of press cuttings. I don’t come to court for a collection of press cuttings,” Justice Noam Sohlberg says acerbically, according to the i24 news outlet.

Following Zini’s appointment, former Shin Bet chiefs Nadav Argaman, Karmi Gilon and Ami Ayalon, along with several organizations, petitioned the High Court claiming Zini lacked relevant experience and that he was “messianic” in his religious and political beliefs.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has called for the court to reject the petitions, arguing that since the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee reviewed and approved Zini’s candidacy before he was appointed, there was no cause for judicial intervention.

The attorney general’s support for the appointment means that the petitions have little chance of being accepted.

The petitioners, including the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, argue in their petitions that the advisory committee, headed by former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, did not properly evaluate Zini’s qualifications and ethical track-record.

“There are many claims about the integrity of the person who did the appointing,” head of the Movement for Quality Government Eliad Shraga said before the hearing, referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “and additional claims against the integrity of Zini himself.”

Earlier on Tuesday, activists with the right-wing Im Tirtzu organization held a protest rally outside the home of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, who is one of the three justices on the panel hearing the Zini case.

Im Tirtzu said their protest was to tell Amit that the court had “no authority” to determine who should be the head of the Shin Bet, and claimed that it was not even legitimate for the court to hear the case.