Netanyahu decides to appoint former Navy commander Eli Sharvit to be next head of Shin Bet

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to appoint former Navy commander Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit as the next head of the Shin Bet, the Prime Minister’s Office announces.

Sharvit is named to replace Ronen Bar, whom the cabinet voted to formally dismiss earlier this month.

Bar remains in his post, with a temporary injunction imposed on his dismissal by the High Court of Justice. While the court froze Bar’s firing, it allowed Netanyahu to interview candidates to replace him.

Netanyahu interviewed seven candidates, says the PMO. Sharvit’s candidacy will now be reviewed by the vetting committee before the decision reaches the cabinet.

The PMO statement about Sharvit’s appointment notes that he led the design of naval capabilities to defend Israel’s territorial waters, and that he oversaw complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

“The Shin Bet is an organization with much credit to its name,” says the PMO, “which underwent a severe trauma on October 7.”

Netanyahu, says his office, “is convinced that Sharvit is the right person to lead the Shin Bet on a path that will continue the organization’s glorious tradition.”

Earlier this year Sharvit, as CEO of Elgry Eco Energy, penned an op-ed blasting US President Donald Trump for his climate policies and for promoting fossil fuels. “Trump’s shortsightedness sends a shocking message to the world of disregard for scientific reality, the well-being of humanity, and responsibility to future generations,” he wrote.

The last time a navy chief became head of the Shin Bet was Ami Ayalon, who was appointed after the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

The government voted earlier this month to fire Bar amid mass protests against the move.

Netanyahu said he had lost faith in the Shin Bet chief following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, sparking the war in Gaza.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who the government is also working to dismiss, warned that the ouster faced legal difficulties, in part due to an ongoing Shin Bet probe of alleged ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and Qatar, which backs Hamas.

Bar vowed to stay on as Shin Bet chief until the return of all hostages from Gaza and the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught, which the government opposes.

The court has scheduled an April 8 hearing on the petitions against his firing.