Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to prepare to withdraw his choice from former navy Eli Sharvit as the next Shin Bet security department on Monday afternoon, a few hours after the surprise announcement attracted the tunes of the Prime Minister’s allies and the accusations of his enemies’ political chicane.
Netanyahu announced to Sharvit on Monday morning as his choice to replace Ronen Bar at the head of the agency, in a decision that apparently attracted the senior defense responsible for the country and triggered a burst of raised eyebrows given the vice-admiral of the reserve, the reported participation of anti-government protests and current issues on the bar of the bar in the associations of the Prime Minister.
A source knowing the thought of Netanyahu told the Times of Israel on Monday afternoon that the Prime Minister was likely to cancel the appointment of Sharvit, but did not mention reason.
Netanyahu had not yet made a final decision on the issue, added the source. The Prime Minister’s office refused to comment.
Reports in the Hebrew media earlier on Monday said that Netanyahu was facing the pressure of political allies to scratch the appointment of Sharvit because of his apparent participation in massive demonstrations which broke out in 2023 against the government’s plans to revise the judiciary.
According to a Ynet report in March 2023, Sharvit joined a demonstration on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, alongside other former military officers. He did not appeal to refuse to present himself to the rights, as some reservists have done, but only expressed themselves concern about the law provided, according to the report.
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Sharvit also spoke publicly in favor of a territorial agreement in 2022 with Lebanon, which Netanyahu – then the opposition leader – opposed, and earlier this year, Sharvit wrote an opinion article Criticizing US President Donald Trump for his climate policy.
Sharvit is “not suitable for the head of the shin”, tweeted the legislator of Likoud Tally Gotliv, who predicted that the appointment would be canceled.
The commander of the Marine Vice-Admiral Eli Sharvit during a graduation ceremony for the naval officers at the Naval base of Haifa, March 4, 2020. (Flash90)
“If he protests, he will not be the chief of the bet of Tibia. Let him continue to protest,” MK Nissim Vaturi told Knesset.
An undefined report of Channel 12 News said that Netanyahu had chosen Sharvit despite being aware of his activism, thinking that he was the best person for work, but had been forced by his wife Sara to recover the choice.
The chain said that Netanyahu’s partners cited the editorial op-top as the reason for the planned decision.
There was no comments from the American administration on the choice of Sharvit, but the republican senator of South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, published a declaration exciting the appointment as “beyond the problems”.
“The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his policies will create unnecessary stress at a critical time,” wrote Graham on X. “My advice to my Israeli friends is a change course and better check.”
The Israelis block the Ayalon motorway in Tel Aviv during a demonstration against the planned judicial overhaul of the Israeli government on March 26, 2023, a few hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed the Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant after the latter asked to stop the legislative effort. (Avshalom Sassoni / Flash90)
In OP-ED, Sharvit accused Trump of leading the world “in the abyss” because of his support for fossil fuels.
“Trump’s myopia sends a shocking message to the world of contempt for scientific reality, the well-being of humanity and responsibility for future generations,” he wrote.
A Channel 12 report on Monday evening suggested that, in fact, it was the aid of Netanyahu who contacted the office of Graham, exhorting him to tweet against the appointment of Sharvit, to strengthen the assertion that it was the pressure of administration Trump which led to the decision, rather than the anger of his participation in the demonstrations.
Katz in darkness
The Prime Minister’s office announced Sharvit as a choice of Netanyahu in a 7 -hour statement, saying that seven candidates had been interviewed and noting that the former navy chief had led the conception of naval capacity to defend Israel’s territorial waters, and that he supervised complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.
The choice was a surprise – the name of Sharvit was not among the four candidates announced previously. Among those who only learned that Netanyahu chose Sharvit with the announcement of the PMO at 7 am was the Minister of Defense Israel Katz, the time of Israel learned.
Netanyahu, said that his office, “is convinced that Sharvit is the right person to direct the bet of Tibia on a path that will pursue the glorious tradition of the organization.”
Some have questioned Sharvit’s appointment about his apparent lack of familiarity with the types of internal security challenges normally discussed by the Bari of Tibia, in particular by not knowing Arabic or being involved in Palestinian affairs, although this is not unprecedented for a head of the agency.
Avigdor Liberman, president of the opposition party Yisrael Beyté, told Kan public broadcaster that even if Sharvit was an “excellent” commander, his appointment “raises many questions”.
Vice-Admiral Eli Sharvit looks aboard the Israeli Navy Atzmaut ship in the Mediterranean, Wednesday, September 1, 2021. (AP / Ariel Schalit)
“I know Sharvit, he was an excellent commander of the navy,” said Liberman, a former defense minister who held the role when Sharvit commanded the navy. “(However,) he has no context of intelligence, he has no training in that, no relevant knowledge, therefore the considerations that led to his appointment raise many questions.”
Unless canceled, the appointment of Sharvit must be checked by a State Committee before going to the office for a vote.
Netanyahu seeks to replace Bar, who was officially dismissed by the cabinet earlier this month, but who remains in his post thanks to a temporary injunction imposed on his dismissal by the High Court of Justice, which is heard of petitions against the dismissal. While the court froze the dismissal of the bar, it allowed Netanyahu to interview candidates to replace it.
Netanyahu said he had lost confidence in Shin Bet chief after the Hamas assault on October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists storm southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages, causing war in Gaza.
The prime minister’s detractors accused him of seeking the dismissal bar due to an invested investigation into the alleged ties between the best aid in Netanyahu and Qatar, who supports Hamas. They note that Netanyahu has cooperated in close collaboration with Bar for more than a year after the assault, and that the bar was part of the Israeli negotiation team for a cease-fire and hostage contract.
The investigation, known as Qatargate, seemed to intensify on Monday, with the arrest of two aid at the center of the alleged affair and Netanyahu himself was summoned by the police to testify, but not as a suspect.
Left: the chief of Shin Bet Ronen Bar (Yonatan Sindel / Flash 90); Right: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Dudu Bashar / Pool)
Others have questioned the relevance of the appointment of a replacement before an audience of April 8 on the dismissal of bar.
“The Prime Minister decided this morning to continue his campaign against the judicial system and to direct the state of Israel towards a dangerous constitutional crisis. The appointment of a chief of Tibia should only be made after a decision of the High Court,” said Benny Gantz, the leader of the National Unity Party.
Sharvit ordered the 2016 Navy until 2021, including during the May 2021 conflict with Hamas. Since his release from the military, he has occupied several roles in civil companies, including the main renewable energy company Elgry Eco Energy.
Earlier in March, Sharvit was appointed by the FDI chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir, being a member of a panel of former officers who must examine and assess army surveys on October 7.
Bar has promised to stay as shin head leader until the return of all the hostages of Gaza and the formation of a state commission of inquiry on the assault of Hamas, which the government is firmly opposed.
