“Netanyahu waged a misleading war against Israeli democracy”, without ambocus Haaretz. After wanting to revoke the chief of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, whose dismissal on Friday was blocked by the Supreme Court, Benyamin Netanyahu does not stop there. The Israeli Prime Minister also attacked the state prosecutor, Gali Baharav-Miara, against which his government voted a motion of distrust on Sunday, March 23.
These two unpublished successive attacks have given rise to strong demonstrations and reactions throughout the country. “Israel needs a reform to balance legal control and democratic responsibility, and not purges motivated by political considerations. The time is for responsibility, and not for a new confrontation between powers”, has positioned itself in an editorial Jerusalem Post.
Monday, March 24, the one nicknamed “Bibi” accused the chief of the Shin Bet of having investigated without his agreement on the far right minister Itamar Ben Gvir, in charge of the national security portfolio. “The assertion that the Prime Minister has authorized Ronen Bar to collect evidence against Minister Ben Gvir is a new lie uncovered,” said a statement from the Prime Minister’s office. TV channel 12, which provides unconditional support for the Israeli armed forces, said that the internal security agency (Shin Bet) has been carrying out a “secret procedure” of the infiltration of far -right elements within the police and its minister of guardianship, Itamar Ben Gvir for a few months.
Benyamin Netanyahu justified his decision to return Ronen Bar by “a lack of confidence”. “The State of Israel is a rule of law and by law, it is the government who decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet,” he said in the weekend on his X account, while the Supreme Court will hold an hearing on April 8 to examine the appeals against this dismissal.
“An executive power without limits”
In addition to launching a cabale against Ronen Bar, the Israeli executive voted a motion of distrust against Gali Baharav-Miara, appointed general procure in 2022, for a brief period when Benyamin Netanyahu was not at the head of the Israeli government. This is the first step in an unprecedented dismissal procedure wanted by the executive, according to a press release from the Minister of Justice. “Although the vote is not legally binding, it sends a strong political message: the government no longer considers its main legal adviser as a partner,” recalls the Jerusalem Post. Note that a few days earlier, Gali Baharav-Miara had issued reservations on the attempt to dismiss the chief of the Shin Bet.
“The Israeli government unanimously approved an unprecedented decision proposed by the […] Minister of Justice, Yariv Levin, expressing distrust of the government’s legal adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, “he said in a statement. According to the law, the state prosecutor is also a legal advisor to the government. Yariv Levin justified this decision by” his inappropriate conduct and important and prolonged disagreements between the government and the legal adviser Effective cooperation “. The Minister of Justice must now take consultations to end his mandate. Gali Baharav-Miara has excluded to resign and received support from the public prosecutor’s office.
Benyamin Netanyahu increasingly disputed
In a letter addressed to the government on Sunday, she believes that Yariv Levin’s proposal “does not seek to promote confidence, but loyalty to political leadership. It is not the promotion of governance, but of limitless executive power,” she castigates. Relations between the General Prosecutor and the Government deteriorated after the coming to power of Benyamin Netanyahu at the end of 2022. In December of this year, it had thus considered that the government’s reform project led by the government threatened to make Israel a “democracy which has its name, but not the essence”. This reform had deeply divided the country in the spring of 2023.
At the announcement of the dismissal of the chief of Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, many demonstrations, coupled with calls for strike, were organized in the country, on Saturday March 22. To this have been added other rallies against the resumption of Israeli strikes targeting the Gaza band since Tuesday, March 18, and for a cease-fire allowing to obtain the release of the 58 hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave. In the middle of a cloud of Israeli flags, demonstrators brandished signs where “more blood shed” were inscribed or “stop war, now!”. Sunday, March 23, several hundred people also met against the dismissal of the general prosecutor before the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and near the Prime Minister’s private residence in Jerusalem.