Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced last week that he would fire Lonen Barr, head of Singh Bett Internal Security Services, citing the crises of trust that was caused by a failure to prevent Hamas’ attacks. Netanyahu’s government also launched a process to deny the Attorney General and accused them of obstructing the agenda, the Associated Press reported.
The move comes as Netanyahu is on trial for corruption as Singh Bett investigates the possibility of penetration of Netanyahu’s office by the Arab state.
They set up a showdown between Netanyahu and the judiciary, which is deepening Israeli division, and could cause turbulence when Israel is upset by the war.
The Netanyahu government began a drastic overhaul of the judiciary in early 2023.
Critics said the overhaul would undermine the administration’s delicate system of checks and balance by giving Netanyahu too much power. He and his governing coalition had blocked its legislative agenda, claiming that the judiciary had become overly interventionist.
Opponents also criticized Netanyahu for promoting the change during the trial for corruption. They say that strong and independent judiciary is the necessary safeguard against authoritarian rules.
Hamas’ October 7 attack caused a war in Gaza, suspending the overhaul. However, it opened a new division to the occupying regime about who was responsible for not preventing Hamas’ attacks.
Netanyahu accepts responsibility and asks instead to point to the military head and shin bet. He has long been blaming the “deep state” who wanted to defeat his rules.
In a surprising announcement last week, Netanyahu said he dismissed the bar and sparked massive protests by critics who said the move would undermine Israel’s state institutions, or completely derailed it as a punishment for an investigation into Singh Bett’s Netanyahu office.
MNA