From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, April 22, 2025
Opposition leaders to hold special Knesset session during recess to discuss Shin Bet chief’s allegations against PM
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
The leaders of the opposition announce they have gathered enough lawmakers’ signatures to hold a special Knesset session during the current parliamentary recess in order to discuss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar’s allegations of misconduct against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a joint statement, the opposition heads write that they have “collected 25 signatures for an emergency meeting of the Knesset plenum on the following topics: the affidavit of the head of the Shin Bet and the danger to state security, and the government’s failures and the holdup in returning the abductees.”
Bar told the High Court of Justice on Monday that he had been fired due to expectations from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he be personally loyal to the premier, and said it was made clear to him that he needed to obey Netanyahu and not the Supreme Court in the event of a constitutional crisis. Bar’s termination has been temporarily frozen by the court.
Bar also alleged that Netanyahu asked him on several occasions to act against Israeli citizens involved in protest activity against the government, and wanted him to hand over personal details of protest activists who “tracked” people assigned security details — presumably a reference to government officials.
Following the release of the affidavit, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz, Yisrael Beytenu chief Avigdor Liberman, and The Democrats head Yair Golan stated that Netanyahu’s conduct, as described by Bar, “puts our future and existence in danger and harms the security of the state.”
In a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana demanding the special session, opposition lawmakers wrote that Bar’s affidavit “suggests that the Prime Minister apparently crossed red lines and attempted to use the Shin Bet as a tool to attack and persecute citizens who sought to exercise their democratic right to protest.”
They also complained that “senior ministers in the government are explicitly stating that [the hostages’] return is not the most important, supreme and most urgent task” — a likely reference to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent statement that “returning the hostages is not the most important thing.”
A date for the special session has not yet been announced, and MKs will not be obligated to attend.
The Times of Israel Community.