Polls finds support for government disobeying court order on Bar firing

More than a third of Jewish Israelis believe that the government should not obey a potential High Court order reserving the firing of Shin Bet security service chief Ronen Bar, a new poll by the Israel Democracy Institute finds.

Despite the opposition to the judiciary on the right, the poll appears to reflect a significant increase in support for disregarding its ruling on the right, a view previously thought to remain beyond the pale — and which could precipitate a constitutional crisis.

According to the survey of almost 750 Hebrew and Arabic speakers carried out over the past week, 54% of Jews believe that the government should obey the court while 36% believe it should not.

Among Arabs, 71% believe that the government should obey the court and 8% believe it should not. Among the general population, 56.5% believe the court’s ruling should be obeyed versus 31% who believe it should not.

96.5% of those on the left and 73% on the political right believe that the court should be obeyed while on 32% agree with this position on the right — and, going by voting patterns from the 2022 Knesset election, “no right-wing party has a majority in favor of obeying the High Court of Justice,” IDI says.

Last month, the government fired Bar, stating that he would vacate the position by April 10. However, he remains in his post after a temporary injunction was imposed on his dismissal by the High Court of Justice, which today is hearing petitions against the firing.

Members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have declined to confirm that they would obey a ruling against the government. Netanyahu has argued that the court cannot intervene on such a decision since appointing and firing the head of the Shin Bet is a security issue in which, by tradition and precedent, the court almost always declines to involve itself, on the grounds that it lacks expertise over such matters.