Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to formally fire the head of the Sinbet domestic intelligence reporting agency on Thursday despite increasing street protests over the movement.
The Israeli Cabinet was scheduled to be convened for a nightly vote on the firing of Singh Bet chief, Lonen Barr, days after Netanyahu announced his intention to banish him, citing the lack of personal trust among them. It comes when Israeli military resumes its campaign in Gaza and is concerned about the fate of hostages still held in enclaves among many Israelis.
Singh Bett is deeply involved in Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, providing intelligence and targeting. The law also places the institutions on protecting Israel's democracy.
The discrepancy between Netanyahu and Barr lies at the heart of the broad battle for the nature of Israel's democracy and the future. Critics of Netanyahu's ruling coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israeli history, have accused them of working to reduce the powers of independent state watchdogs and to unbalanced the checks and balances of government authority.
Burr's firing of personal trust raised general concern that future appointments could be based primarily on loyalty to the Prime Minister.
Barr, who has been leading the agency since 2021, issued a rare official statement last week after Netanyahu's announcement, stating that Netanyahu's expectations of “personal trust” were against the public interest.
“It's a fundamentally flawed expectation that violates shin betting laws and political mansy,” Burr said.
Thousands of protesters took them to the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday, with more protests expected on Thursday. The new protests remind us of weekly demonstrations in 2023 in 2023 against an attempt to review the judiciary to reduce its authority to act as a government check, and at one point they will join unions and hold a national strike.
Netanyahu and his allies have made accusations of overreaching the judiciary and other independent branches, saying they are blocking the freedom to make government decisions and represent voters' wills.
Netanyahu is under police investigation and has been tried on charges of corruption, but he denies it. He is increasingly denounced the liberal “deep nation” for witch hunting against him and his family.
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.
Netanyahu appeared as brave as Gaza with the solid support of the US administration, and served a common cause with President Trump late Wednesday.
“In America and Israel, when strong right-wing leaders win elections, deep left-wing states use the judicial system as weapons to stop the will of the people,” he wrote. “They won't win either place! We stand strong together.”
Elon Musk responded with a red “100” emoji, suggesting he agreed with Netanyahu.
