If Israel was a normal country with normal problems, the fact that it doesn’t currently have a permanent head of its security agency, the Shin Bet, might not be cause for concern.
But Israel is not a normal country. Just look at the multi-front war that it’s been fighting for the last 20 months, and the continued unrest in the West Bank, from Palestinian terrorists and Israeli settlers alike.
But like a Shalom Aleichem story from Chelm, the inability to appoint a Shin Bet head to deal with the critical fronts is indicative of the deep disarray the country’s institutions are muddled in and the deep distrust that the institutions have for each other.
Supreme Court justices Isaac Amit, Gila Kanfi-Steinitz, and Alex Stein on Sunday granted the government and the Attorney-General’s Office 48 hours – until Tuesday – to reach a compromise on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposal to appoint IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) David Zini as the director of the Shin Bet.
It’s unfathomable that the stalemate has lasted this long, with Israel’s security being the sacrificial lamb.
The most recent head of the Israel Security Agency, Ronen Bar, “resigned” last month, after essentially being fired by Netanyahu due to “irreconcilable differences.”
Attorney-General Gal Baharav-Miara ruled last month that Netanyahu should be prohibited from appointing the next Shin Bet chief, arguing he has a conflict of interest due to the ongoing investigation of his aides in the so-called Qatargate scandal.
In a submission to the High Court of Justice on Tuesday, Baharav-Miara wrote that it was impossible to uncouple Netanyahu’s act of firing Bar from the act of appointing his successor.
Bar's tenure as former Shin Bet head
Bar’s tenure was due to end in 2026. Netanyahu argued that the distrust between the two, which is paramount to productivity and, ultimately, the country’s safety, was broken on October 7 and cannot be remedied. Bar, who resigned on June 15, argued that this timeline is not accurate and that the push to fire him in earnest began in November 2024, in time with the start of the Qatari investigations.
Whatever one thinks of the motives for Bar’s dismissal/resignation, and whether they are fueled by Netanyahu’s self-serving aims, one must remember that Bar is a civil servant.
He was appointed – and was dismissed – by the government. His main responsibility was to keep the country safe, a task in which he failed catastrophically – along with the other heads of Israel’s security and government - ahead of October 7. Like the IDF chief of staff and the former head of Military Intelligence – and the prime minister – he should have resigned long ago.
But Netanyahu – appointed at the polls unlike the aforementioned civil servants – is still here, right or wrong. Baharav-Miara’s suggested a framework that would circumvent Netanyahu’s involvement, by designating another minister to lead the project. But the oppressive stipulations she’s outlined – the delegated minister must independently decide which candidates to interview, document each interview under legal supervision, provide a detailed rationale for the final nomination, and ensure the candidate’s qualifications are examined – make that process essentially unworkable and takes the appointment out of the government’s hands and puts it in the attorney-general’s hands.
As the Post’s former editor Yaakov Katz wrote last month, “Baharav-Miara’s ruling sidelines the role of the government entirely. While the prime minister nominates the Shin Bet chief, the appointment must be approved by the cabinet. That vote is not a rubber stamp; it is supposed to reflect collective responsibility, and ministers can decide to vote against the proposed candidate. For the attorney-general to dismiss that process is to insult the very structure of Israeli democracy.”
Netanyahu himself is not under investigation regarding Qatargate, nor are any members of his cabinet. The individuals involved are advisers who operate outside formal government channels.
Netanyahu has stated that Zini, as the new Shin Bet head, would not be involved in the Qatargate probe, which, if taken at face value, means that his taking the post will not present an impediment to the investigation, which Baharav-Miara has said is close to yielding indictments.
Last month, Netanyahu ordered the IDF to launch one of the most daring and consequential operations in the country’s history – penetrating Iranian airspace, crippling nuclear facilities in Natanz, Fordow, and Isfahan.
The country’s fate was literally in his hands. But his ability to appoint the head of Israel’s top security agency - something that every other prime minister has been tasked with in Israel’s history – is being disputed.
Talk about Chelm. It’s time to end the charade, approve Zini’s appointment, and get on with the business of safeguarding the citizens of Israel.