Setting up standoff, High Court issues temporary order against dismissing Shin Bet chief
In wake of ruling, AG tells Netanyahu he’s prohibited from even interviewing new candidates, says could be a conflict of interest; PM says government will decide who heads Shin Bet
The High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction on Friday preventing the dismissal of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, hours after the cabinet voted overnight to remove him by April 10 at the latest.
The order will remain in place until the court can hear the petitions that have been filed against Bar’s dismissal. The court said it will hear the petitions no later than April 8.
The ruling appeared to set up a showdown between the government — with ministers openly vowing to defy the court — and the judicial system that was backed up by large segments of Israeli civil society. The main labor union and business forum threatened a nationwide strike if the government would not abide by the court order.
Netanyahu’s conflict of interest
Following the High Court injunction, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara instructed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he is prohibited from appointing a new head of the Shin Bet, or even conducting interviews for the job.
Baharav-Miara, who the government is also seeking to fire, said in a letter to Netanyahu that her instructions also preclude appointing a temporary head of the service. The attorney general’s instructions will likely remain in effect until the High Court makes a final ruling on the issue, although she did not stipulate a timeframe in her letter.
Baharav-Miara added that in the meantime, the question of whether Netanyahu can himself be involved in the process of appointing a new Shin Bet chief will be examined “due to the concern of a conflict of interest.”
The Shin Bet is currently conducting a criminal investigation, along with the police, into allegedly unlawful ties between senior aides to Netanyahu and Qatar. The attorney general has suggested that the investigation may mean Netanyahu has a conflict of interest in the hiring and firing of the head of the Shin Bet.
Netanyahu also signed a conflict of interest agreement in 2020 prohibiting him from involvement in the appointment of judges and senior law enforcement officials due to his ongoing criminal trial on corruption charges. The head of the Shin Bet would appear to be among those officials included in that agreement.
Meanwhile, the cabinet secretary has reached out to the deputy attorney general for consent to obtain independent representation for the government in the matter. The government is normally represented by the attorney general. However, in cases where there is a disagreement, it can use outside counsel.
No legal authority
Netanyahu responded to the injunction and to Baharav-Miara by posting on X that “The State of Israel is a country of law and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet.”
He also wrote that “There will be no civil war!” hours after Israel’s most revered jurist, former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, expressed his fear that the country is heading in that direction due to the government’s moves to fire Bar and prepare to fire Baharav-Miara.
Additionally, according to unconfirmed quotes cited by multiple outlets Friday from the previous night’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told ministers: “Can someone imagine that we’ll continue to work [with Bar] without trust because of a court order? It can’t happen and it won’t happen.”
Other government ministers reacted with anger to the court order and several explicitly threatened to defy the court.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said the court had no right to interfere in the government’s decision, declaring, “Ronen Bar will end his tenure on April 10 or earlier, with the appointment of a permanent head of the Shin Bet.”
“You have no legal authority to interfere in this. This is the government’s authority,” added Karhi, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party. “Your order is void.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote on X, “High Court judges will not manage the war, nor will they determine its commanders. Period.”
Newly returned minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who chairs the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, tweeted: “Judicial reform now!”
Breaking from his fellow ministers, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel stated that the government would respect the injunction issued by the High Court of Justice. “The Israeli government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not violate the court’s decision,” he said.
However, his Shas party later issued a statement disavowing his comments.
“The Shas faction supports and fully backs the decision made yesterday by Prime Minister Netanyahu to dismiss Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar,” it said.
“Shas ministers participated in and supported the vote last night at the government meeting,” the statement said, adding that “any other comments do not represent the party’s position.”
The final red line
The comments from ministers drew angry reactions from the opposition and civil society members.
The Israel Business Forum, which represents most private sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies, warned Friday that it would “shut down the Israeli economy” if the government does not respect the injunction.
“If the Israeli government does not honor the order and leads Israel into a constitutional crisis, we call on the entire Israeli public to stop respecting the government’s decision…and we will shut down the Israeli economy,” the forum said in a statement.
The Histadrut Labor Federation, the country’s largest union, called on the government to respect the court and warned it was pushing the country into anarchy.
“I expect the Israeli government to uphold and respect every decision of the court, just as the government expects from citizens, the Histadrut and other organizations. The State of Israel is a state of law and the government is not above the law,” said union chief Arnon Bar-David.
“We are on the verge of anarchy thanks to this government and I will not lend a hand to the destruction of Israeli society,” he said, adding it was unfathomable that the government would defy the court.
Bar-David warned that failing to adhere to the ruling would be “a final red line that cannot be crossed.”
“We will not sit silently and watch them take apart the State of Israel,” he said.
The private Reichman University also threatened to strike, saying in a statement that the government’s legitimacy required adhering to High Court rulings and that failure to do so would lead to a “constitutional crisis that endangers the existence of the state.”
Several other universities had already threatened to strike if Bar was fired.
In addition, 40 regional council and municipal heads signed a letter calling on Netanyahu to publicly state that he would obey the court.
The left-wing Democrats chair Yair Golan welcomed the High Court’s order, terming it “an important achievement.”
The Democrats party, along with Yesh Atid, National Unity, and Yisrael Beytenu, was among those petitioning the court against the firing of Bar.
“The mobilization of the masses is having an impact — the unfaltering civilian struggle is succeeding,” Golan wrote on X, a day after thousands of demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem to protest the meeting where ministers voted to fire Bar.
Golan said that Bar “demonstrated courage when he stood up to a bad and dangerous government,” and vowed that protesters would “continue the campaign for Israeli democracy.”
“We will fight, and we will win,” he added, appearing to borrow the government’s oft-uttered slogan for the war in Gaza — “Together we will fight, and together we will win.”
Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously in the early hours of Friday morning to dismiss Bar, marking the first time in Israeli history that the government has fired the head of the domestic security agency.
Immediately, opposition parties and civil society groups petitioned the High Court of Justice against the decision.
The petitions alleged ulterior motives and conflicts of interest, given the Shin Bet’s ongoing investigation into ties between Netanyahu’s aides and the Qatari government, and amid the prime minister’s steadfast refusal to establish a state commission of inquiry into failures surrounding the October 7 attack, which could potentially implicate the government.
The court injunction also came hours after a meeting agenda confirmed that the cabinet plans to take up a no-confidence motion Sunday morning regarding Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whom the government is also seeking to dismiss, though the process to do so would be lengthy and could take some two months.
Baharav-Miara had warned Netanyahu that he could not fire Bar before her office reviewed his motives for doing so, amid the Shin Bet investigation into the so-called Qatargate.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, reacting to the government’s move toward dismissing Baharav-Miara after voting to oust Bar, said, “This process is also taking place amid a conflict of interest. We will petition [the High Court of Justice] against this decision, too. This decision, too, will be invalidated.”
