Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stunned the country twice on Monday, first by rolling out the early morning appointment of former naval chief V.-Adm. (ret.) Eli Sharvit as the new head of the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), then by having anonymous aides suggest later in the day that the pick might be withdrawn.
At press time, it was still not clear whether Netanyahu would stick with Sharvit as his new candidate to run the agency or whether he would opt for another name.
Due to a petition to the High Court of Justice, the appointment will not go into effect before April 8 in any case and may be further delayed.
In initial reactions from agency sources to The Jerusalem Post, Sharvit was so unknown to them that most of them had little to say, despite a clear sense of shock that Netanyahu had not only refrained from appointing a deputy Shin Bet chief to the role, which has been customary in recent decades, but that he had taken someone outside of the agency and even outside of the IDF’s ground forces.
All the hints from Netanyahu’s spokespeople indicated that the four final candidates for the role were recent deputy Shin Bet chief “M,” an earlier deputy Shin Bet chief – Yair “Rolly” Sagi, a former Shin Bet high command official – Shalom Ben Hanan, and a former Mossad high command official who had also served extensively in the Shin Bet – Eyal Tzir Cohen.
It was known that Netanyahu was interviewing other candidates, but none of them had been taken seriously by the media, and no one had named Sharvit.
Who is Eli Sharvit, Netanyahu’s prior pick to head the Shin Bet?
Netanyahu’s choice seemed to be a sign not only that he does not trust current Shin Bet director Ronen Bar, who the government is trying to fire, but that he also does not trust the top tiers of the agency and seeks to bring in an outside disruptor to wrestle greater control over it.
However, there is nothing in Sharvit’s public record to indicate that he would be an ideological disrupter who would disrespect top Shin Bet officials, other than that he is not close to them since the navy and the agency have little to do with one another.
Sharvit served in the Israel Navy for 36 years. He was its chief of staff from 2014-2016 and its commander from 2016 until 2021. As commander, Sharvit led the development of maritime defense capabilities for Israel’s economic waters and directed complex operational campaigns against Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, the Prime Minister’s Office said.
It was also announced last week that Sharvit would be part of the IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir’s external team, which is set to review and implement lessons from the October 7 attack.
If his appointment goes through, he will need to drop any involvement in that panel, but the fact that Zamir placed him on it could be a sign that Sharvit was not considered to be part of the same “club” as Bar and former IDF chief Lt.-Gen. Herzi Halevi, who Netanyahu now reviles.
“The prime minister is convinced that Sharvit is the right person to lead the Shin Bet forward and uphold the organization’s proud legacy,” the PMO added.
However, by the afternoon, many Likud and coalition officials, some anonymously and some publicly, were attacking Sharvit.
Some attacks were related to his participation in protests against the judicial reform, while others were related to some public criticism he had against US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Later in the afternoon, leading Republican US Sen. Lindsey Graham was publicly calling for Netanyahu to drop Sharvit.
At the same time, there were some parties on the Left who said that even if he was technically qualified, there was a cloud of suspicion over the fact that he was accepting the role at a time when Netanyahu’s firing of Bar was seen as highly controversial.
Some legal officials even implied that Netanyahu was using Sharvit to soften potential High Court resistance to firing Bar.
If Netanyahu drops Sharvit, it is not clear whether he will go back to the original shortlist of four candidates or opt for some other dark horse and unknown candidate.
The firing of Bar has sparked mass protests across the country, with many considering the move a direct threat to democracy.
Netanyahu and Bar have been in a public war of words for the last six weeks – since Bar’s Shin Bet opened a probe into some of the prime minister’s top aides regarding the scandal known as Qatargate.
Qatargate refers to allegations that top Netanyahu aides were paid funds by Qatar in a way that could have impacted their handling of national security matters, including the hostage negotiations with Qatar and Hamas.
Netanyahu has also been looking to shift blame from himself for the failure to stop the October 7 massacre onto the Shin Bet and the IDF, seeking Halevi’s and then Bar’s resignations in order to accentuate their roles in that blame.
High Court Justice Gila Kanfi-Steinitz wrote last week that she “did not see the need” to expand a temporary injunction freezing the firing of the current head, Bar, such that it included a prohibition to interview new candidates. This statement effectively rejected the position of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara, according to which the prime minister could not take any action that could change Bar’s status, including interviews of new candidates.
This means that Netanyahu can name Sharvit or some other candidate, but the new candidate cannot take office before the April 8 High Court of Justice hearing.
The High Court may allow the new candidate to take office, block his appointment due to Qatargate, or seek a compromise allowing Bar to conclude the Qatargate probe while permitting the new candidate to move into office as quickly as possible.
Mathilda Heller contributed to this report.
