Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara formally sided with the government in defending the appointment of IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) David Zini, as director of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), told the High Court of Justice on Wednesday night that there are “no grounds for judicial intervention in the government’s decision.”
The position comes only hours after Zini himself filed his own response, urging the court to dismiss the petitions against him.
According to the state’s preliminary response, the appointment was made lawfully and in full accordance with a previous High Court ruling, which set the framework for appointing a new Shin Bet chief after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was found to have a conflict of interest in the previous dismissal of former director Ronen Bar.
“Unlike the circumstances in Bar’s dismissal… the present appointment process was conducted properly and pursuant to the agreed-upon framework approved by the court,” the state’s filing reads. “Accordingly… there is no cause for judicial intervention in the government’s decision.”
The position emphasizes that both the Advisory Committee, chaired by former Supreme Court president Asher Grunis, and the government itself unanimously approved Zini’s candidacy after examining all allegations regarding his integrity and political neutrality.
The petitions – filed by several civil-society groups and former security officials – trace back to the political and institutional fallout from the October 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent efforts to dismiss former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.
After the court ruled in May that Netanyahu could not legally dismiss Bar due to conflict-of-interest concerns connected to the so-called “Qatargate” investigations, Bar himself resigned in June, framing it as a step to preserve the agency’s independence. Within weeks, the prime minister moved to install a successor.
Committee clears Zini for Shin Bet post despite petitions
Under a July High Court compromise, Netanyahu was permitted to propose a candidate only after 60 days, and the appointee would not deal with matters relating to “Qatargate” or the “Bild” cases until a formal conflict-of-interest arrangement was in place. The investigations concern Qatari influences over figures close to the prime minister.
Zini was formally nominated on September 11, reviewed by the Grunis Committee on September 18 and 21, approved on September 25, and confirmed unanimously by the government on September 30. He entered office on October 5.
The Grunis Committee announced that, after reviewing more than 20,000 public submissions, interviewing Zini, the prime minister, and others, it found “no issue of integrity that would prevent his appointment.”
The committee rejected claims that Zini’s prior meeting with the prime minister – which directly preceded the announcement of the appointment – constituted a conflict, stating that his conduct was understandable and “did not deviate from proper standards.”
It also dismissed objections over Zini’s religious background or statements attributed to family members, calling them irrelevant to “questions of integrity.”
As a precaution, the committee required Zini to sign a formal conflict-of-interest declaration, excluding him from involvement in cases relating to his family and from any investigation connected to the prime minister’s ongoing legal matters.
In the Wednesday filing, the state maintained that the High Court’s review power is narrow in matters of senior appointments and that the government acted within its wide administrative discretion. It further urged the justices to dismiss all seven petitions filed against the appointment “for lack of grounds warranting intervention.”
Among the petitioners are a group of over 180 former security officials led by ex-Shin Bet chiefs Nadav Argaman, Carmi Gillon, and Ami Ayalon. They argued that appointing an outsider aligned with the government threatens the service’s independence, and that Zini’s lack of Shin Bet experience raises operational concerns.v