PM’s pick to head Shin Bet said to call judiciary ‘a dictatorship that rules Israel’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nominee to be the next head of the Shin Bet recently called Israel’s judiciary a “dictatorship” and said that the security agency is “bound to the prime minister” before the law, according to a Monday report.

Haaretz reported that Maj. Gen. David Zini said during private discussions with former senior security officials that “the judicial system is a dictatorship that rules the State of Israel.”

The report said Zini had also lashed out in the past few weeks at the security agency he has been tapped to lead, saying its leaders “were confused.”

“They say they are first of all bound by the law, but that isn’t true. They need to act in accordance with the law, but they are first and foremost bound to the prime minister,” Zini was quoted as saying.

Zini also reportedly said that “the situation in which the prime minister gives orders to the Shin Bet and it doesn’t fulfill them cannot continue to exist,” with the newspaper noting it was not clear what specifically he was referring to. Haaretz said Netanyahu promised Zini to fight for his appointment “to the end.”

Zini’s ostensible remarks are likely to reinforce opposition fears that Netanyahu’s nominee to head Israel’s internal security service will prioritize loyalty to the prime minister over democratic safeguards and that he may seek to erode legal constraints on the agency.

The general’s appointment is currently being contested in the courts, with the attorney general arguing Netanyahu does not have the authority to appoint him.

He is a controversial figure due to his self-described “Messianic” views, and according to reports, officials in the Shin Bet have threatened to resign if he takes over the agency.

Zini, a father of 11, had until recently served as head of the IDF Training Command and General Staff Corps. He has also been responsible for advancing the drafting of Haredi soldiers to the military. He was dismissed from the army after going behind IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir’s back to discuss the Shin Bet appointment with Netanyahu.

In closed conversations, Shin Bet field coordinators responsible for the Jerusalem and West Bank areas described Zini’s nomination as politically motivated, Kan news reported in May.

They were said to express concern that his extreme political views conflict with the agency’s core values and would damage its nonpartisan character.

Zini was nominated by Netanyahu as head of the agency in May, though the appointment has been fraught from its first moment, as the ouster of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was itself a point of contention.

Bar stepped down from his position as the head of the Shin Bet on June 15 after Netanyahu moved to fire him from the role in a bitter dispute that ended up in the High Court.

Bar was dismissed by cabinet vote on March 21 based on Netanyahu’s assertion that he had lost confidence in his ability to do the job in the wake of the October 7 onslaught.

Government watchdog groups petitioned the High Court against the controversial decision, alleging that Bar was dismissed due to his defiance of the prime minister on several key issues, and not for professional considerations.

The High Court ruled in May that Netanyahu had to recuse himself from replacing Bar due to a conflict of interest stemming from the Shin Bet probe of his top aides in the so-called Qatargate scandal.

In an interim capacity, Bar has been replaced by his former deputy, known as “Shin,” as head of the secretive security agency, until Zini or someone else is formally appointed to the post.

On Tuesday, the High Court held a hearing on a petition demanding that Netanyahu be able to nominate the next Shin Bet chief, despite Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s recent determination that he cannot do so due to a conflict of interest.

In a submission to the High Court of Justice, Baharav-Miara wrote that it was impossible to uncouple Netanyahu’s act of firing Bar — which was ruled unlawful by the court last month — from the act of appointing his successor, actions that may constitute “prohibited influence on investigations” including a probe being conducted by the Shin Bet into allegedly illicit ties between the prime minister’s aides and Qatar.

The debate over the Shin Bet appointments has aroused huge public controversy, with opponents of the government claiming Netanyahu was trying to suppress the investigations into his advisers, while the coalition and its supporters have contended that the attorney general and the court were overstepping and trying to replace the elected government and its authority.