Smotrich says gov can’t be forced to keep Ronen Bar as Shin Bet head – Israel

The Finance Minister refrained on Monday from saying that he would respect a High Court ruling that canceled the firing of Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. Instead, he claimed that the High Court could not force the government to continue working with a Shin Bet head whom it did not trust.

Smotrich made these remarks during a contentious interview at a Yediot Ahronot conference. His interview was repeatedly disrupted by hecklers, and Smotrich spent a significant portion of his time on stage responding to them directly.

“If there is a case for which the doctrine of institutional non-justiciability was created, this is it,” he said. “The judicial system must also recognize the limits of its power. A Prime Minister and a government cannot be forced to work with a Shin Bet chief where there is no mutual trust between them. The responsibility for Israel’s security lies with the government, and therefore, the authority [to fire Bar] rests with it,” Smotrich said.

Smotrich said that Bar bore “full responsibility” for the October 7 Hamas massacre. In response to shouting from the crowd, Smotrich answered, “Why do you have to unite behind the man whose security organization, which he heads, was supposed to provide a warning but failed to do so? Who clings to his position, and for a year and a half has been systematically undermining the concept of national responsibility?”

The finance minister responded to demands from the audience that the hostages should return, and only then should Hamas be destroyed.

“This is a slogan whose feasibility I simply do not know,” he replied. “Hamas is not stupid. In exchange for the hostages, it demands our complete surrender, the withdrawal of the IDF, and its continued presence as a governing force with power and weapons. This means the threat remains. It means that all the heavy price we have paid, literally and figuratively, will have been in vain, and there will be another round [of fighting] —and that will not happen.”

‘A religious obligation’

Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, who was interviewed later at the same conference, took a different track on many of the issues Smotrich discussed.

According to Arbel, “Our commitment to bringing back the remaining 59 hostages is, in my view, a religious obligation. This is a struggle for the Jewish identity of the State of Israel. At the same time, the persistent refuser at the moment is Hamas. This needs to be put on the table.”

Regarding a High Court ruling over Bar’s dismissal, Arbel said that there was “no question” that “the decision that will be made will be respected by the State of Israel and the Government of Israel.”