Israel’s High Court of Justice issued an interim injunction on April 8 stating that Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar must remain in office until further notice and giving the government and the attorney general until April 20 to reach a compromise over the legal dispute surrounding the unprecedented vote in Prime Minister Benjamin’s cabinet last month to fire him, after an apparently chaotic hearing that was repeatedly disrupted by protestors, reported the Times of Israel. The court told the government that it cannot take any action to remove Bar from office while the interim injunction is in place, including declaring that it has found his replacement, and must not impede his authorities as Shin Bet chief or change the working relationship between the government and the domestic security agency. The court said, however, that interviews for a replacement can still be conducted.
Attorney Eliad Shraga, who heads the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, accused Netanyahu and the government of trying to turn the Shin Bet domestic security agency into “the Stasi,” the feared secret police force in Communist East Germany.
“It can’t be that the subject of an investigation can wake up one morning and fire his investigator,” said Shraga in reference to the Qatargate scandal, though it is Netanyahu’s close aides, not the prime minister himself, who are suspects in that case.
