Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahuhas filed a complaint with police against Nadav Argaman, the former chief of the country’s domestic intelligence service, Shin Bet, claiming he is blackmailing him.
The move came after Mr Argaman said in a television interview that if Mr Netanyahu acted illegally, he would reveal “everything I know” about him. His comments came amid attempts by Mr Netanyahu’s right-wing government to revive controversial legal reforms designed to shift the balance of power away from the judiciary towards the executive.
“The fact that Shin Bet directors know a lot – there is no question, but we don’t go around with a machete of threats. If we come to think that there are things that we know that endanger Israel’s national security, we will make use of them, in keeping with the law,” Mr Argaman said.
“We will know how to handle our external enemies, bad as they may be. We will not be able to handle the unravelling of Israeli society from within. We have to do everything so that Israeli democracy is preserved, so that we do not undermine the gatekeepers, that we let the three branches function and for the supreme court to be independent. That is how we will ensure Israeli democracy. Without democracy, Israel has no reason to exist.”
Describing the comments as “unprecedented”, Mr Netanyahu said: “Another dangerous red line has been crossed. Never before has a secret service former chief extorted and threatened a prime minister in such a manner. These criminal threats [expressed] in mafia-style language will not intimidate me.”
Amir Ohana, the speaker of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, and a member of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party, said a security agency director “who threatens the democratically elected prime minister is a real danger to democracy”.
The latest development comes amid ongoing pressure by Mr Netanyahu on current Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to resign from his post, as the prime minister tries to pin the entire blame for the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October 2023 on the military and intelligence branches.
Mr Netanyahu also accused Mr Bar of extorting him with threats. “This crime is in addition to the campaign of extortion with threats by means of briefings to the media in the last few days by the current director, Bar,” he said. “The sole purpose is to try to prevent me from making the necessary decisions to rebuild the ISA after its stinging failure on October 7th [2023].”
Shin Bet responded: “This is a grave allegation and utterly without basis. Ronen Bar devotes all of this time to security matters, the efforts to bring back the hostages [taken on October 7th] and the defence of democracy. Any other statement on the matter is utterly without basis.”
Tension is also high between Mr Netanyahu and Shin Bet over an ongoing affair dubbed “Qatargate”. Last month, Shin Bet and the police launched an investigation over allegations of ties between members of the prime minister’s office and individuals linked to Qatar. Eli Feldstein, the prime minister’s spokesman, was suspected of leaking classified information to a foreign company working for the Qatari government on the hostage issue, while employed in the prime minister’s office.
Mr Netanyahu dismissed all the Qatargate allegations as baseless. Earlier this week he said he was suing former defence minister Moshe Ya’alon for comments suggesting he received tens of millions of dollars from Qatar.
Opposition lawmaker Benny Gantz criticised Mr Netanyahu. “Attacking state security organisations out of political interests undermines state security – and that is what the prime minister is doing, at a time that we face huge challenges.”
