The IDF Chief of Staff, Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, Mossad Director David Barnea, and the Shin Bet head, Ronen Bar, were not invited to a security cabinet discussion scheduled for Wednesday evening.
The explanation provided was that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened the meeting for a diplomatic briefing on his visit to Hungary and Washington, and therefore, the heads of the security agencies were not invited to attend.
However, the meeting comes against the backdrop of the High Court of Justice’s Tuesday decision to order freezing Bar’s dismissal.
The High Court encouraged the Attorney-General’s Office and the government to reach an acceptable “creative solution” for and against the government’s decision to fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.
Bar will continue to serve in the role until further notice, and no steps may be taken to end his tenure, including declaring a replacement or appointing an acting head.
Reactions to High Court ruling on Ronen Bar
The Prime Minister’s Office declared this ruling “puzzling.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had called on the prime minister to not invite Bar to any meetings or work with him, as he is now “Shin Bet chief in name only,” KAN reported.
National Unity party leader Benny Gantz had a different view, stating that excluding Bar from meetings and “boycotting” him is “playing with people’s lives.”
