Courtroom chaos as Israel's Supreme Court reviews Netanyahu’s move against Shin Bet chief

Israel’s Supreme Court began a hearing on Tuesday into Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bid to sack the head of the domestic intelligence service amid raucous scenes from shouting protesters that forced the judges to clear the court.

Netanyahu’s move to sack Shin Bet head Ronen Bar was blocked by the Supreme Court after it agreed to consider petitions against the decision, which fuelled anti-government protests and highlighted political divisions that have deepened since the start of the Gaza war.

On Tuesday, as the hearing began, one protestor, whose son was killed in Gaza in December 2023, was dragged out of the hearing as he shouted at the judges, accusing Bar of being responsible for his son’s death.

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The judges later called a recess and cleared the audience from the court completely, but many remained outside shouting “For shame!”.

Netanyahu said last month that he had lost confidence in Bar over the agency’s failure to prevent the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.

But the move sparked a furious reaction from critics who said the real reason for his dismissal was a police and Shin Bet investigation into possible ties between Netanyahu aides and Qatar.

Netanyahu, who travelled to Washington this week for meetings with U.S. President Donald Trump, is not directly implicated and faces no immediate risk to his hold on power from the probe, which alleges that Qatar made payments to media aides as part of an influence-peddling campaign to improve its image.

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He has dismissed the so-called “Qatargate” affair as a political witch-hunt launched against him by what he called the “Deep State” and said two aides arrested in the probe had been taken “hostage”.