Netanyahu announces his selection of an army general as the next head of the Shin Bet.

 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday evening his appointment of Major General David Zinni as the new head of the Shin Bet internal security service, defying a Wednesday decision by the State Attorney General to bar him.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu announced this evening his decision to appoint Major General David Zinni as the new head of the Shin Bet," a statement from Netanyahu's office read.

According to Netanyahu's office, "General Zinni has held numerous operational and command positions" in the Israeli military, citing his history as a fighter in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit and as a founder of the Commando Brigade, an independent unit.

Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara commented on the move, calling the process for appointing the Shin Bet chief "flawed."

"There are serious suspicions (that Netanyahu) acted in a conflict of interest, and the appointment process is flawed," Baharav-Miara, who is also the government's attorney general, said in a statement.

For his part, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called on Zinni on Thursday evening to refuse to serve as Shin Bet chief.

The head of the center-right Yesh Atid party wrote on his Twitter account, "Netanyahu is in a situation of serious conflict of interest. I call on General Zinni to declare that he cannot accept this appointment as long as the Supreme Court has not announced its position on the matter."

A non-governmental organization also announced that it would appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court to challenge the appointment of a new Shin Bet chief.

The Attorney General had prevented Netanyahu on Wednesday evening from appointing a successor to the outgoing Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, but the prime minister insisted on proceeding with the appointment.

Zinni, born to a family of French immigrants and the grandson of a survivor of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, currently heads the Israeli military's training command.

The government praised a report he prepared in March 2023 that exposed the Israeli military's shortcomings in the event of a "surprise incursion" from Gaza into Israel.