Israel PM says will start selection process for new security chief

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Tuesday that he would start meeting candidates to replace internal intelligence agency chief Ronen Bar, whose sacking brought thousands of Israelis out onto the streets in protest.

"After the Supreme Court rejected the government's legal advisor's attempt to prevent the start of the process to appoint a new Shin Bet chief, the Prime Minister will begin interviewing candidates for the position as early as tomorrow," Netanyahu spokesperson Omer Dostri said in a statement.

The ruling was against an appeal made by Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who instructed the government that it could not appoint a new security chief after the Supreme Court suspended Bar's sacking.

The government, the most right-wing in Israel's history, had announced its intention to fire Bar last week, with Netanyahu saying he did not have confidence in the security chief.

However, the Supreme Court moved quickly to block the sacking after receiving several appeals, giving itself time to hold a hearing on the case on April 8.

Baharav-Miara has openly criticised on legal grounds the attempt to remove Bar from office and has said she suspects Netanyahu of having a conflict of interest.

Shin Bet has been investigating people close to Netanyahu who allegedly received money from the Gulf state of Qatar.

The attorney general was also critical in December 2022 of the government's judicial overhaul project, which she said threatened to make Israel a "democracy in name but not in spirit."

That reform sparked months of mass protests across Israel, deeply dividing society, and was officially suspended by the government following the start of the Gaza war sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7, 2023, attack.

It has since been revived, however.

Thousands of Israelis protested last week to decry Bar's dismissal and to call for the return of the hostages being held in Gaza.