Israel’s Netanyahu reverses spy chief nomination amid US criticism

US Senator Lindsey Graham described nomination of Eli Sharvit as Shin Bet chief as ‘beyond problematic’.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reversed his nomination of a former naval commander to head Israel’s spy agency amid criticism from the US.

Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday that the prime minister was withdrawing the nomination a day after he proposed Vice Admiral Eli Sharvit as the next chief of the domestic security service Shin Bet. The about-face followed criticism from the US, the key backer of the Israeli government’s war in Gaza and military exploits across the wider region.

In a statement, his office announced that Netanyahu had informed Sharvit “after further thought” that he “intended to consider other candidates” for the job leading the spy agency.

The prime minister had announced on Monday that he would nominate Sharvit, despite a Supreme Court order blocking his bid for the time being to fire incumbent Ronen Bar.

The announcement led to criticism from Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a key ally of US President Donald Trump, who cited comments from Sharvit lambasting Trump for abandoning efforts to fight climate change and promoting fossil fuels and branded his nomination “beyond problematic”.

“The statements made by Eli Sharvit about President Trump and his policies will create unnecessary stress at a critical time,” Graham said. “My advice to my Israeli friends is [to] change course and do better vetting.”

Trump is viewed as having given the nod to Netanyahu’s renewed onslaught on Gaza and flexing of Israel’s military might across the region. The US supplies many of the arms used in Israel’s campaigns.

‘A few screams’

The naming of Sharvit also provoked anger in some members of Israel’s governing coalition, reflecting media reports recalling that the former navy commander had joined protests in 2023 against Netanyahu’s attempts to reform the judiciary and that he had supported a 2022 water agreement with Lebanon that the prime minister opposed.

Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu criticised the appointment on X, saying nominating Sharvit as a replacement for Bar, who was officially fired over the failure to stop Hamas’s October 2023 attack while investigating associates of the prime minister on suspicion of corruption, “does not solve the problem, but only perpetuates it in a different framework”.

Eliyahu said Sharvit shared Bar’s “Kaplanist worldview”, believing that democracy had to be protected by “gatekeepers” purporting to “understand better than the people what is appropriate and right for them”.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed Netanyahu for bowing to the criticism.

“The head of the Shin Bet is not just another appointment. It’s not a job that you announce and regret after 24 hours because of a few screams. This is the holiest of holies, it’s a violation of state security,” he said on X.

The nomination of Sharvit followed the controversial dismissal of Bar on March 21, citing an “ongoing lack of trust”. The Supreme Court swiftly suspended the decision until April 8.

Bar claims that his ousting was motivated by a desire to halt the “pursuit of truth” about the events leading up to October 7.

Shin Bet last month released a report that acknowledged it should have thwarted the Hamas-led assault while criticising Netanyahu for helping to create the conditions for the attacks.

The prime minister has thus far resisted calls for an official state commission inquiry into the events of October 7, 2023.

His decision to dismiss Bar came after several senior Israeli officials who were in charge during the Hamas attack were forced to step down, including then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and army chief Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies