JERUSALEM / ISTANBUL 

Israel’s Supreme Court began hearing petitions Tuesday opposing the government’s dismissal of Ronen Bar, the director of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency.

Last month, the Israeli government unanimously agreed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to fire Bar, making it the first such decision in Israel's history, despite protests from thousands of Israelis.

The Supreme Court has frozen the dismissal to review petitions filed by opposition parties.

According to Israel’s Haaretz daily, the court will hear eight petitions, and the session is being livestreamed at the request of some Israeli citizens.

Supreme Court President Justice Yitzhak Amit called Bar’s dismissal “an unprecedented event” at the start of the session.

The petitions cite a conflict of interest in Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Bar, who has been heading a committee that is investigating the Israeli premier’s aides.

Opponents of Bar’s dismissal argue that the government needs to obtain approval from the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee to do so.

The Supreme Court issued "an interim injunction stating that Bar must remain in office until further notice while the government and the Attorney General’s Office try to come to an agreement on how to resolve the legal dispute over his dismissal," The Times of Israel reported.

The court’s decision also formalized its proposal to the government and the attorney general "to reach such an agreement and gives the sides until April 20, the day after Passover, to do so," the media outlet added.

The court told the Israeli government that "it cannot take any action to remove Bar from office while the interim injunction is in place, including declaring that it has found his replacement, and must not impede his authority as Shin Bet chief or change the working relations between the government and the domestic security agency.”

During the hearing, Supreme Court Justice Noam Sohlberg advised the government to consider submitting Bar’s dismissal to the Advisory Committee for Senior Appointments—an option Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara supports but the Netanyahu government rejects.

According to Israel Army Radio and Channel 7, the court urged both sides to seek a compromise, possibly involving a future timeline for Bar's departure, instead of forcing an outright decision.

The standoff highlights a broader power struggle within Israel’s political and legal systems, particularly over control of senior security appointments amid ongoing national crises.

In March, the Israeli government passed a vote of no confidence against Baharav-Miara in another move against the judiciary by Netanyahu and his ruling coalition.

Last month, Netanyahu announced the appointment of former Navy Commander Eli Sharvit as the new Shin Bet chief but later retracted the decision amid criticism within his government following revelations that Sharvit had participated in protests against the government in early 2023.

Bar’s dismissal came as Israel continued its deadly onslaught on the Gaza Strip, where more than 50,800 Palestinians have been killed since October 2023, most of them women and children.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.