High Court heads off next potential crisis by accepting gov’t-AG compromise over next intelligence chief nomination

Israel’s High Court prevented another potential constitutional crisis in the country on Sunday by green-lighting a compromise between the attorney general and the government, ending the months-long conflict over who will head Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet.

According to the compromise, Maj.-Gen. (ret.) David Zini, who is the preferred candidate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will succeed Ronen Bar in the post.

However, the court also partially vindicated the position of embattled Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, by ruling that Zini will have to wait two months to give the Shin Bet and Israel Police the time needed to conclude investigations into Qatargate.

Against the background of the already-simmering tensions between the government and Baharav-Miara, Netanyahu decided in March to fire Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, arguing that he no longer trusted him to fulfill his highly sensitive job.

Baharav-Miara and Bar publicly opposed the move, with the attorney general arguing that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest, given that Bar’s agency was involved in the investigations of both Qatargate and the Leaked Documents case, in which the two main suspects are former aides to the prime minister.

Netanyahu has argued that he has evidence suggesting the investigation was initiated in an attempt to torpedo Bar's dismissal.

The High Court initially ruled that Netanyahu had acted “improperly” in dismissing Bar, citing the ongoing investigation involving Netanyahu’s close aides.

Baharav-Miara then issued instructions ordering Netanyahu to delay nominating a new chief until the legal implications of a recent court ruling were clarified; however, the prime minister ignored her and nominated Zini at the end of May.

In a hearing last month, Chief Justice Yitzhak Amit clarified the prime minister’s authority to appoint the Shin Bet chief was not in dispute, and the only issue was Netanyahu’s possible conflict of interest.

The two other justices on the panel strongly criticized Baharav-Miara’s decision to ban Netanyahu from nominating a candidate outright, arguing that other solutions could have been found.

Now, it seems that Zini will, indeed, become Israel's next Shin Bet director.

After the end of the two-month period, Netanyahu will inform the “Grunis” Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, which will review the candidate’s suitability for the job.

In addition, Baharav-Miara was tasked with drawing up a conflict-of-interest agreement for the new Shin Bet chief regarding his participation in the two sensitive investigations.

The intelligence agency, in the meantime, will continue to be led by the current acting director, who is known only by his initial “Shin,” who has been leading the agency since Bar stepped down in June.

The debate over the Shin Bet appointment marked the latest chapter in a long-simmering conflict between the government and the attorney general, whom the coalition has accused of actively trying to hamper its policies.

Through its failed judicial reform, the government had already attempted to curb the judicial system's powers. Baharav-Miara’s handling of this case added new fuel to the fire of resentment towards her among the current coalition members.

Meanwhile, government critics argued that the case once again demonstrated Netanyahu’s attempts to suppress the investigations into his and his aides’ conduct while seeking to replace faithful state officials with his loyalists.

In March, the government unanimously voted to express no confidence in Baharav-Miara and initiated a dismissal process, which is still ongoing.

Netanyahu is not involved in that effort due to another conflict-of-interest agreement he signed with former Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, who formally indicted the prime minister on corruption charges in 2019.