Shalom Arbel, a former ISA official, pointed out that Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has a clear conflict of interest which must be taken into consideration when weighing her call not to fire ISA chief Ronen Bar. "The Attorney General is in a serious conflict of interests here - or so it would seem," Arbel told Kol Barama Radio , adding that this is "both because of the actions and processes that [Bar] is facing and also because of her close relationship with him. She is a friend of Bar, and of [former ISA chief] Nadav Argaman. Her husband was with them in the same unit, they worked very closely together as a team, and they are among their best friends." "There is a law in this country, and we need to follow it," Arbel added. "If the ISA published its investigation on the failures of October 7 and dedicated an entire chapter to the political echelon and blamed it - in my opinion, there is a problem there." In his opinion, the decision to fire Bar is "the proper process from the Prime Minister's perspective. The government has all the authority under the law to vote and fire the ISA chief. If there is alack of faith - or for any other reason - when the Prime Minister believes that he can no longer work with the ISA chief, then he has all the authority to remove him from his position." Related articles: Supreme Court rejects A-G's position on ISA candidates Government begins process of dismissing Attorney General A-G absent from cabinet meeting on her dismissal 'Government trying to be above law; we will not be deterred' On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Bar that the the government would vote to remove him from his position. Baharav-Miara quickly moved to block the dismissal , claiming in a letter to the Prime Minister, "You cannot dismiss the head of the Shin Bet until the factual and legal basis for your decision is thoroughly investigated and your ability to deal with the issue at this time is clarified." She also provided reasoning for her position, writing, "This is due to the extraordinary sensitivity of the matter, its unprecedented nature, the concern that the process is tainted by illegality and conflicts of interest, and given the fact that the role of the head of the Israel Security Agency is not a personal position of trust under the Prime Minister."
