Tuesday, Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he is reversing his previously announced decision to appoint a new director of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security agency. After receiving criticism of his chosen candidate, particularly from a prominent U.S. senator.
This reversal comes as the Israeli prime minister is locked in a standoff with the Supreme Court, which has frozen the government's decision to dismiss the current Shin Bet chief, and following the arrest of two of Netanyahu's advisers on suspicion of receiving bribes from Qatar.
After announcing his decision on Monday, Netanyahu ultimately "thanked" Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit "for answering the call of duty but informed him that upon further consideration, he intended to consider other candidates" for the position, according to an official statement.
The appointment of Admiral Sharvit, a former chief of the Israeli Navy, was criticized in the U.S. by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of President Donald Trump, who called it "overly problematic."
"My advice to my Israeli friends is to change course and more thoroughly examine" their candidate's past, Graham wrote on X, noting that Admiral Sharvit's "statements" on President Trump and his policies "would inevitably create unnecessary tensions."
On January 23, two days after Trump returned to the White House, Admiral Sharvit had published an op-ed in an Israeli economic newspaper criticizing the American president's promotion of fossil fuels amid climate change, under the title: "More than a political mistake: Trump is driving the Earth into the abyss."
- "Political investigation" -
A few hours after the announcement of his appointment as head of Shin Bet, Israeli media reported that Eli Sharvit had been among the tens of thousands of Israelis who took to the streets in 2023 to oppose the Netanyahu government's attempts to reform the judicial system.
According to the media, Admiral Sharvit also supported the maritime border agreement between Israel and Lebanon concluded in 2022 by the previous government, against which Netanyahu had campaigned.
The justice reform project supported by Netanyahu's government, one of the most right-wing in the country's history, led to one of the largest popular protest movements in Israeli history in 2023.
The government's decisions in late March to dismiss the Shin Bet chief, launch a procedure to impeach the country's attorney general, and resume war in Gaza by breaking nearly two months of truce reignited opposition accusations of dictatorial drift. The mobilization was also fueled by a disputed vote in Parliament on the system of judicial appointments.
The Israeli government decided on March 21 to remove Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, after Netanyahu said he no longer had confidence in him, notably following the security fiasco of October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas attack that triggered the ongoing war in Gaza.
Following appeals from the opposition and NGOs, the Supreme Court suspended Bar's dismissal until April 8 to review them and rule on the legality of the removal, which could be overturned.
Some of these appeals denounce the fact that Netanyahu could be in a conflict of interest by wanting to dismiss Bar amid "Qatargate," the investigation opened by Shin Bet into individuals close to the prime minister, in which he himself has reportedly testified.
Police announced Monday the arrest of Yonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, two close advisers of Netanyahu, as part of this investigation. The prime minister denounced a "political investigation" and accused the police of holding his two advisers "hostage."
Qassem rejects cease-fire agreement reached in Washington, slams it as a 'capitulation'
