Protests erupt after Netanyahu names new Shin Bet chief
Israeli police have clashed with protesters after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed the new head of the Shin Bet spy agency in defiance of the attorney general’s instruction to freeze the process.
Hundreds of people demonstrated in central Tel Aviv on Thursday, after Netanyahu announced Major General David Zini as his pick for the post despite a ruling by the supreme court that the decision to fire outgoing Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar was made “improperly” and “unlawfully”.
During the clashes, Israeli police arrested four protesters, who said in a statement that Netanyahu is acting a like a “dictator” by insisting on “leading us to a constitutional crisis.”
They also called on people to “strike and stop” the regime until it “returns the mandate to the people after its numerous failures.”
On March 21, Bar was dismissed by an Israeli cabinet vote based on Netanyahu’s assertion that he had lost confidence in Bar’s ability to do the job in the wake of a historic resistance operation on October 7, 2023.
However, several petitions reached the supreme court, saying Bar’s dismisal had been flawed.
The court ruled on Wednesday found that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest when he fired Bar, due to investigations into his advisers in the Qatargate scandal, in which a Qatari representative allegedly paid the prime minister’s aides to promote the country’s interests in the regime’s media.
It prompted Israeli attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara to tell Netanyahu that he was barred from appointing a new Shin Bet chief while she worked out the implications of the ruling.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid urged Zini to turn down his appointment.
The leader of the opposition party, Benny Gantz, said Netanyahu had “crossed another red line … by ignoring the attorney general’s instructions on appointing the head of Shin Bet.”
