The public battle taking place in Israel between the government and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) would be dangerous enough at any time, but is doubly dangerous during wartime. This battle is intertwined with several others, including the one concerning Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and her efforts to torpedo government initiatives, the trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Shin Bet’s targeting of Jews in Judea and Samaria, insubordination within the Israel Defense Forces, the judicial reform protests and the anti-war “Kaplan” protests. The thread that ties all of this together is the far-left’s effort to paralyze and topple the government.
“It’s all one big family. It’s not a deep state—it’s a deep shtetl,” said Gadi Taub, bestselling Israeli author and co-host of the Israel Update podcast.
Led by several so-called elites, including former Mossad heads Efraim Halevy, Tamir Pardo and Danny Yatom, as well as former prime minister Ehud Barak and former head of the Shin Bet Ami Ayalon, these leftists are now calling to declare Netanyahu incapacitated and strip him of his prime ministerial duties.
According to Taub, “In the most extreme scenario, the Supreme Court could try and do that based on a Shin Bet assessment that Netanyahu has gone rogue.”
“They’re trying to overthrow an elected government,” he said. “They invented a role for themselves and now they’re telling us that the head of the Shin Bet is a gatekeeper.”
They act like “an independent power that is not accountable to anybody,” he added.
These so-called elites weakened Israel’s deterrence before the war with their protests against judicial reform, and then sabotaged the war effort, he told JNS. Unelected officials in the judiciary, together with far-left activists (and with assistance from foreign governments such as the Biden and Obama administrations), are working against the public mandate to install their own people and prevent the elected government from governing.
Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar may have announced he will resign on June 15, but he remains the subject of heated controversy. The Cabinet voted to dismiss Bar. After it did so, a legal battle erupted, and the High Court worked to stop the dismissal, which then led to a war of affidavits.
Bar and Netanyahu both submitted competing affidavits to the High Court. Bar claimed that Netanyahu had pressured him into acting unlawfully due to personal and political considerations, a claim which Netanyahu rejected in his own affidavit.
According to Taub, Bar “is just a branch of the Kaplan demonstrations with a secret service under him.”
The anti-war demonstrations are just an extension of the anti-judicial reform protests, and are the left’s attempt to create subversion by controlling the non-elected judiciary and giving it total power, he said.
The problem with the AG is that she is both the government’s legal adviser and the head of the prosecution—a situation that without checks and balances makes her too powerful and creates a potential conflict of interest in some cases.
Over the last few months, Israel’s government backed a bill to divide the AG’s responsibilities. The proposed legislation aims to separate the role of chief prosecutor from the AG’s portfolio, placing it under a new “prosecutor general” nominated by the government. The argument against the bill is that it will erode the checks and balances essential to democratic governance, but in reality it will streamline government operations. Baharav-Miara has strongly opposed the bill, suggesting it is motivated by Netanyahu’s personal interests in connection with the ongoing criminal proceedings and investigations against him.
The attorney general is tasked with advising the government and advancing its policies, while also overseeing the state’s prosecution. This dual role has long been problematic for coalition ministers. The fear of potential criminal investigations led by the AG can deter ministers from challenging the office, giving the AG significant influence over government decisions. By splitting the roles, the government seeks to reduce this leverage.
The push to reshape the attorney general’s role is just part of the ongoing battle between Israel’s government and judicial institutions.
According to Simcha Rothman, a Knesset member and chairman of the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, many of the individuals in the judicial system trying to topple the government “are not professionals—they are politicians.”
“They don’t adhere to the letter or intent of the law,” he told JNS. “They do whatever they want to gain more political power and dismantle the right-wing government.”
Rothman said he was referring to judges, legal advisers “and the entire deep-state apparatus that is working to undermine elected officials and actually the public.”
As part of the government’s effort to create checks and balances between all three government branches, Rothman successfully passed legislation concerning the bar, the judicial selection committee, and on an independent ombudsman for the judges. He said he is now working on legislation on criminal procedures.
However, Rothman told JNS, “We need to do the legislation work, but it is not enough. It is also the executive branch that needs to stand its ground and replace people who openly say they are working to undermine the government.”
As for the public, Rothman said people “should make their voice heard on social media and demand from government officials to stand behind the judicial reform and repair the system.”
Rothman lamented that Bar is remaining in his position for another month, suggesting that his insubordination compromises state security.
He also voiced frustration over the fact that the procedure to remove Baharav-Miara from office had not begun “because the coalition is not committed enough.”
“We need to separate the role of the attorney general, not only to keep her out of office, but also to make sure the next person will not have a position that allows tyranny,” he said.
“There is a lot to do and we need the full commitment of the public and elected officials,” he added.
The coming months will likely see a continuation of the government’s efforts to expose and eradicate leftist subversion within the judiciary.
According to Taub, Israel’s Supreme Court judges have removed sovereignty itself from the elected branches of government and transferred it to themselves.
“A deep state doesn’t get any deeper than this,” he said.
{Reposted from JNS}
