Top justice calls Bar firing unprecedented as High Court starts hearing

The High Court of Justice is beginning a high-stakes hearing for petitions against the government’s controversial decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, with Supreme Court President Isaac Amit presiding over the case, together with incoming deputy president Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez.

The hearing is being livestreamed online.

Protesters are heard chanting “you have no authority” as the judges enter.

Amit starts the hearing by calling the government’s move to fire Bar “unprecedented.”

The March 21 decision to fire Bar amid a Shin Bet investigation into the dealings of the prime minister’s close aides in the Qatargate scandal prompted opposition parties and government watchdog groups to file petitions to the court.

They accused Netanyahu of trying to stymie the probe and of firing Bar for political reasons, and requested that the court reverse the decision since, they argue, it was made with a conflict of interest and out of ulterior motives.

Netanyahu and the government in response have argued that the issue of who heads the Shin Bet is a security issue which the court cannot get involved in; that the government no longer has faith in Bar to do his job; that forcing the government to work with Bar would harm national security; and that there is no conflict of interest since Netanyahu is not a suspect in the Qatargate affair.

Justice Minister Yariv Levin has said that if the court rules to reinstate Bar, the government should simply refuse to work with him in order to force him out.

But experts have suggested that the court may be wary of reversing the decision due to the discretion the government has over hiring and firing the head of the Shin Bet, and may instead try and find a solution where the government commits to appointing a successor based on purely professional considerations.

The court is not expected to rule on the petitions today.