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Israeli civil society group to challenge Israeli PM’s ‘brazen’ appointment of new spy chief
An Israeli nonprofit said that it would file a legal petition to prevent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from appointing a new head to the Shin Bet domestic security agency.
Calling the appointment of Major-General David Zini a “brazen and defiant” move, after the attorney general had said the government must hold off on the appointment of a new Shin Bet chief, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel – a civil society group – said it will submit another petition to the High Court of Justice “against this invalid appointment”.
Israel’s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said earlier that Netanyahu’s announcement naming a new domestic security chief was “flawed”, and which came a day after she said the government must hold off on the appointment.
“The prime minister acted contrary to legal guidance. There is serious concern that he acted while in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed,” Baharav-Miara said in a statement following an announcement from Netanyahu’s office that he had picked Zini to be the next Shin Bet chief.
On Wednesday, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the government’s decision to fire the previous domestic security chief, Ronen Bar, was “unlawful”.
The court said Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in moving to fire Bar, as the Shin Bet was conducting a probe into alleged ties between the prime minister’s close aides and Qatar. Bar announced his resignation in April, saying he would step down after Netanyahu tried to remove him.
Former Israeli PM says war exacerbates ‘Israel’s diplomatic and legal isolation’
Israel’s former PM Ehud Barak says it is “highly doubtful that continuing the war could produce results that are different from the prior rounds of fighting in Gaza”.
Writing for the Israeli media outlet Haaretz, Barak said: “It would undoubtedly exacerbate Israel’s diplomatic and legal isolation, prompt a wave of anti-Semitism and constitute a death sentence for some or most of the living hostages.”
The war “would have made sense if it could bring about total victory over Hamas, but that won’t happen”, he added, calling for “a leadership that recognises the possibility of releasing all the hostages in a single stage, halting the senseless war and ending the humanitarian crisis, uprooting Hamas from power and eliminating its ability to threaten from Gaza”.
He called the proposal for permanent occupation of the Gaza Strip and the population transfer of two million Palestinians “baseless and delusional visions that would backfire on us and only accelerate the confrontation with the rest of the world”.
Barak also stressed the “urgent need to be relieved of the worst government in our history”, referring to the Netanyahu administration. “The sooner, the better.”
