Israel‘s Supreme Court on Friday ordered a temporary halt to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s dismissal of Ronen Bar as head of Shin Bet, the country’s internal intelligence agency, until his appeal can be heard.
Several high-ranking Israeli government figures criticized the Supreme Court’s ruling, with some calling for the government not to abide by it.
“Ronen Bar’s term will end on April 10 or once a replacement is found,” said Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi of Netanyahu’s Likud party, adding that the judiciary “doesn’t have the jurisdiction to intervene” and that the court’s ruling “has no validity.”
Israel’s Business Forum threatened it would strike if the government did not abide by the court’s decision. The Business Forum represents the heads of some 200 of the Israeli economy’s biggest companies.
“Should the Israeli government not respect the decision and lead Israel to a constitutional crisis, we will call for the Israeli public to stop respecting the government’s decisions, with everything this means,” the forum said in a statement, adding it would “stop the Israeli economy.”
The Israeli High-Tech Headquarters, which includes dozens of the biggest companies in the sector for which Israel has become a world leader, joined the threat to strike in the case the Supreme Court’s decision will not be respected.
“Disobeying the Supreme Court is a red line from which there’s no return,” said their statement, adding it would turn Israel to a “third world country from which all foreign investors would run away.”
Forty municipality heads in Israel, including the mayors of Tel Aviv and Haifa, announced that in case the government would not respect the Supreme Court’s ruling, they would side with the judiciary.
“We call on the Prime Minister to immediately announce that the government would comply to the Supreme Court,” the municipality heads said in a statement.
Israeli leader Netanyahu responded to the criticism, saying Israel is “a state ruled by law, and the law says the government decides who heads the Shin Bet,” he posted on his X account.
“There will not be a civil war,” Netanyahu said.
Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against the government since Tuesday following the intention to fire Bar. Shin Bet, along with Israeli police, is, meanwhile, investigating several of Netanyahu’s aides over alleged financial connections to Qatar while also working for the Israeli leader.
Bar did not attend meeting where he was fired
Bar did not attend the Thursday meeting in which the vote on his dismissal took place, choosing to send a letter instead.
In the letter, which was leaked to the Israeli media, Bar called the process of firing him “inappropriate for any employee, let alone a high-ranking one, let alone the head of the Shin Bet.”
Regarding Netanyahu’s reasoning for the move, Bar wrote it seemed the Israeli leader’s argumentation for the move was aimed at “hiding the real motives” behind his sacking, motives which he labels as “profoundly wrong” later in the letter.
In the letter, Bar addressed Netanyahu’s claim that he had lost trust in the Shin Bet leader.
“This is not about the lack of trust, but about the perception of personal loyalty over loyalty to the public,” Bar wrote.
How did Netanyahu react?
Netanyahu took to his X account to blame what he called “the leftist Deep State” for trying to “thwart the people’s will.”
Israeli police made several arrests after several hundreds of protesters had clashed with officers on their way to the Israeli Prime Minister’s official residence.
Israeli media reports suggested some of the protesters tried to break through police barricades in front of Netanyahu’s home. Several demonstrators were injured, with police using water cannons.
Support of hostage deal
Yair Golan, the head of the Democratic opposition party, was pushed to the ground by police officers while taking part in the demonstration.
“A few pushes will not stop me,” he posted on his X account. “Now, we keep on fighting, we bring back the hostages and we stop the coup!”
Protesters were also voicing their dismay over the resumption of fighting in Gaza, breaking a two-month ceasefire, mostly due to the decision’s implications on the prospect of more hostages returning home from captivity in Gaza.
Many of the hostages released over the two-month ceasefire took to social media to criticize the government’s decision to end the ceasefire. Some even called it a death sentence for the hostages still held by the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas.
The group, designated a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany, the United States and several other countries, still holds 59 hostages it kidnapped after its terrorist attack on October 7, 2023, with some 20 of them thought to still be alive.
According to recent opinion polls, most Israelis would like their government to continue negotiations over a hostage exchange deal which would end the war and result in a complete withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Gaza Strip.
Thousands in Israel protest renewed Gaza offensive
Edited by: Sean Sinico