Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s sudden attempt to remove the head of Israel’s domestic intelligence reporting agency is the latest salvo in a two-year campaign by the Israeli government, exerting more control over various branches of the state.
The move prompted a massive call for protest on Monday, leading to criticism from business leaders and the Attorney General, summoning memories of the social upheaval of 2023.
Netanyahu’s plan to win a cabinet vote on the future of Lonen Baa, the organisation chief known as Singh Bet, was announced less than a month after his government announced similar intentions to dismiss Israeli Attorney General Galli Baharav Miara. It also came amid a new advancement in Parliament by Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition to give politicians greater control over the Supreme Court’s justice choices.
These moves show that returning to Netanyahu’s failed efforts in 2023 will reduce the power of agencies that acted as a check on the powers of his government, including the Supreme Court and the Attorney General.
The program, often referred to as a judicial overhaul, has proven to be deeply divided and spark months of massive protests and widening rifts in Israeli society. The campaign was suspended only after Hamas-led Israeli attacks revived a sense of unity in October 2023.
Now, amidst a volatile ceasefire in Gaza, the tensions have come to an end.
Amichai Cohen, a law professor and fellow at the Institute of Democracy, a Jerusalem-based research group, said: “This is part of the general trend to take on these independent institutions and increase executive power.”
“The judicial overhaul is back,” Professor Cohen added.
A few months of mass protests were held in 2023 against Netanyahu’s judicial overhaul plan.
As he attempted to fire Mr. Burr, calls from opposition leaders and grassroots activists for Israelis on Monday urged demonstrations outside Jerusalem’s government headquarters on Wednesday. A coalition of 300 major business leaders also criticised Mr. Burr’s firing and issued a rare statement.
Attorney General Baharav Miara issued a statement that the process of firing Barr could not be launched until it was determined whether it is legal for Netanyahu to do so. She said there are concerns that if the prime minister ignores her warning, it is a conflict of interest for Netanyahu.
In response, Netanyahu said the Cabinet would listen to her analysis before voting. However, he added that her intervention constitutes “a dangerous undermining, not the first of the government’s explicit authority.”
The clash sparked a similarly intense conflict in 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people joined the unions and held a national strike when they protested weekly against the government’s previous attempts to overhaul the judiciary and business leaders at one point.
The direct context of the attempt to fire Mr. Burr was a personal conflict between the security chief and the prime minister. For months, Barr had been angering Netanyahu by investigating officials in the prime minister’s office. Netanyahu denied any fraud. The Qatar government did not respond to requests for comment.
Analysts said Netanyahu’s final straw was likely a rare public intervention from Barr’s predecessor, Nadahu Algaman, last week. In a television interview, Algaman said that if he believed Netanyahu was trying to break the law, he might reveal further accusations of fraud by the prime minister.
Such comments from Mr. Burr’s intimate allies were “too many” for Mr. Netanyahu, said Nadab Straurer, the prime minister’s former adviser. “He saw it as a direct threat,” Strauchler said. “In his eyes, he had no choice.”
However, he said the broader context is a much broader controversy between Netanyahu’s right-wing alliance and opponents about the nature and future of the Israeli state.
Netanyahu’s governing coalition is formed from political parties representing various ultra-liralik Jews who seek to maintain their privileges. Settlement activists seeking to deepen Israel’s control over the West Bank and further curb Palestinian rights.
For years, these groups have resided independence of observers such as the judiciary, the Attorney General, and Security Services, and have moved in various ways to limit ultra-Orthodox privileges. Block certain movements by settlers. We will indict Mr Netanyahu for corruption. He is on trial for allegations he denied.
Netanyahu’s efforts to fire Singh Bet’s head, Ronen Barr, underscored years of tensions between the prime minister and key members of Israel’s establishment of security.
The government and its supporters say that suppressing judicial institutions and other gatekeepers, such as Sin Bett, actually strengthens democracy by allowing lawmakers to free themselves to enact what they have elected. They also say Mr. Barr should resign on October 7, 2023 because he was unable to prevent a Hamas-led attack.
Singh Bett “done his nose into issues of governance, control, values, social cohesion and of course democracy,” Aisan Orkibi wrote in a column in Israel Haeyom, the right-wing daily newspaper, on Monday. After Mr. Burr’s firing, Orkibi continues, and Singh Bett is “slowly returned to the specialized territory of nature.”
However, the opposition says such a move will undermine democracy by removing important checks of government overreach, allowing Netanyahu’s coalition (the most conservative and nationalist in Israel’s history) to create a society that is so pluralistic and authoritarian. Opposition parties argue that Netanyahu should also be responsible for the attack on October 7th, not just Barr.
“By the obedient coalition of Jesus’ men, Netanyahu is heading his path to dismantle all gatekeepers in Israel,” Barak Seri wrote in a column in Maarif in Centre Light Daily. “We’ve dismantled everything that protects Israel and know it since its establishment.”
In another development, the Israeli military said it had struck in central and southern Gaza against those seeking to bury explosives in the ground. Hamas said the victims were civilians. Israel and Hamas have officially observed a ceasefire, but negotiations to formalize the ceasefire have stagnated, and Israel has been on regular strikes over what it says is a radical target. Hamas said the strike killed more than 150 people. Some of them are civilians.
Reports were provided by Myra Noveck in Jerusalem, Johnnatan Reiss in Tel Aviv, and Abu Bakr Bashir in London.
