Israel's Supreme Court freezes PM's order to sack security chief

Israel's Supreme Court has issued an injunction to prevent the head of the nation's security service from being fired by Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli cabinet formally approved the early dismissal of Ronen Bar on Thursday night, over the failure to anticipate the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas.

Netanyahu, the prime minister, said in a video statement last week that he intended to sack Mr Bar, citing an "ongoing distrust" between the two that had "grown over time".

On Friday, the Supreme Court froze the dismissal until a hearing could be heard on the matter no later than 8 April, according to documents cited in Israeli media.

Ronen Bar was appointed in October 2021 for a five-year term as the chief of the Shin Bet - Israel's domestic intelligence agency.

His sacking would be the first time in Israel's history that a government has fired the Shin Bet's leader.

Netanyahu's plan to dismiss him sparked outrage and further inflamed anti-government demonstrations in Jerusalem, which saw thousands of Israelis join forces with protestors opposing Israel's renewed assault on Gaza.

A letter sent by Netanyahu to members of his government before the meeting on Thursday referenced a "persistent loss of professional and personal trust" between the prime minister and Bar, and proposed his term end on 20 April.

"The loss of professional trust has been consolidated during the war, beyond the operational failure of 7 October [2023], and in particular in recent months," it said, referring to the Hamas attacks on Israel which sparked the Israel-Gaza war.

The Shin Bet is Israel's domestic intelligence agency and plays a key role in the war. Its activities and membership are closely-held state secrets.

However, Bar has characterised the decision to remove him as politically motivated.

The Times of Israel said that he did not attend the cabinet vote, but sent a letter saying that firing him was "entirely tainted by conflicts of interest" as the Shin Bet investigates the prime minister's office over allegations of "Qatar's involvement in the heart of Israeli decision-making".

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara late last month ordered the police and the Shin Bet to investigate officials within Netanyahu's office over alleged financial ties to Qatar. A gag order has since been issued on all information relating to the investigation. Netanyahu's Likud Party denies all allegations.

Baharav-Miara - a vocal critic of Netanyahu who is herself facing dismissal proceedings - argued that Bar could not be fired until the legality of the move had been assessed.

The Movement for Quality Government in Israel, an NGO, said it had launched an appeal against the "illegal decision [...] posing a real risk to national security".

Yesh Atid, the centre-right party led by Yair Lapid, said it had filed an appeal on behalf of several opposition parties and denounced the sacking as a "decision taken due to a blatant conflict of interest by the prime minister".

Israel launched its war in Gaza after Hamas invaded southern Israel on 7 October, 2023, killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostage.

More than 48,500 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Israel ended a months-long ceasefire earlier this week and resumed its attacks on Gaza. More than 400 people were killed in the first night of bombing, according to the health ministry.

Large crowds of Israelis have protested over the resumption of the war and Netanyahu's moves to sack Bar.

Israel and Hamas failed to agree how to take the ceasefire beyond the first phase, with negotiations expected to have started six weeks ago.

Hamas did not agree to a renegotiation of the ceasefire on Israel's terms, although it did offer to release a living American hostage (and four bodies), to extend the current arrangement.

Israel blocked all food, fuel and medical supplies entering Gaza at the beginning of March in order to put pressure on Hamas.