Netanyahu names ex-Navy commander Eli Sharvit as the next Shin Bet head. But there's a catch

As the Israel-Hamas war continued to rage on, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to appoint former Navy commander Vice Adm. (res.) Eli Sharvit is the next head of Shin Bet. On Sunday, Israel’s Prime Minister’s office confirmed the news and said Sharvit will be replacing Ronen Bar, whom the cabinet voted to formally dismiss earlier this month.

Bar remains on the post for the time being, with a temporary injunction imposed on his dismissal by the Israeli High Court of Justice. According to The Times of Israel, the court froze Bar’s firing but allowed Netanyahu to take interviews and swiftly find his replacement.

As per the PMO statement, Sharvit led the design of naval capabilities to defend Israel’s territorial waters and oversaw complex operations against Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran. “The Shin Bet is an organization with much credit to its name,” says the PMO, “which underwent a severe trauma on October 7.”

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Netanyahu said he is “convinced that Sharvit is the right person to lead the Shin Bet on a path that will continue the organisation’s glorious tradition.”

But there is a catch

It is pertinent to note that in Israel, the last time a navy chief became head of the Shin Bet was Ami Ayalon, who was appointed after the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Earlier this month, the Israeli government voted to fire Bar despite mass protests against the move.

Netanyahu went on to state that he had lost his faith in the Shin Bet chief following the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, which led to the death of 1,200 people with 251 people taken as hostages. Meanwhile, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who the government is also working to dismiss warned that the ouster of the Bar might face legal difficulties due to an ongoing Shin Bet probe of alleged ties between Netanyahu’s top aides and Qatar, which backs Hamas.

Bar, on the other hand, has pledged to stay in the Shin Bet until the return of all the hostages still stuck in Gaza. He also called for the formation of a state commission of inquiry into the Hamas onslaught, which the government opposes. In light of this, the Israeli court has scheduled an April 8 hearing on the petitions against his firing.

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After the news of Sharvit’s appointment to the post was announced, Opposition leaders said that while the former Navy chief was an excellent commander, he would need to prove he was loyal to the law and the state rather than to the Israeli premier.