Israeli court freezes Netanyahu's bid to oust internal security chief

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00:00You can see Dr. Guy Laurie is with us, Research Fellow of Democratic Values in the Institutions

00:05Programme and attorney as well.

00:07Let's get your sense of things at the moment and the protests we're going to start to see

00:12tonight and how many people are deeply affected, upset by this rift between the intelligence

00:19service and the Prime Minister.

00:21Good evening, thank you for having me.

00:24It's a very concerning issue for many people in Israel because there is this juncture of

00:31both the attempt of the government for a judicial overhaul, which is going forward these days,

00:37and this view of disregard of the government for the lives of the Hussein's that are coming

00:45out and renewing of the war.

00:48So there's this very great concern with members of the public and with the opposition that

00:53the government is going forward in disregard of fundamental issues that concern them.

01:02It's very interesting.

01:03I just want your take on actually when we step back from it as well and you listen to

01:06the narrative from government and supporters, Benjamin Netanyahu, who say it will be like

01:11the equivalent of MI5 in the UK.

01:13You can't have the Prime Minister, they say, distrusting the work of the head of the intelligence

01:18service if they feel they're working against them.

01:21How do you see the government's argument on this?

01:24Well there's a problem.

01:25I mean, of course the government has the authority to dismiss the head of the intelligence services.

01:33But the question here is, can the government do so right now when the security services

01:40are investigating grave allegations against members in the Prime Minister's office?

01:48The question of whether there is a right process that is being followed, and the Attorney General

01:53has argued that it has not been followed, there is no proper process that is being followed

02:00right now, and that there is a fear of conflict of interest of the Prime Minister.

02:05The court seems to have seemed to at least be willing to hear these arguments, and so

02:15has frozen, on Friday has frozen, the continuing dismissal of the head of the security services

02:24until the court can hear the arguments from both sides.

02:28We can get the gist of what you're saying, but you're occasionally having some technical

02:31problems.

02:32But I'm going to persist with the final question, because what you're saying is of import.

02:35The other point here is, if we listen to the words of the former head of the Supreme Court

02:40saying that the rift now that this is causing risks a civil war in Israel, to what extent

02:47do you give credence to those comments?

02:50Well there is a great risk here, because there is a constitutional crisis that is going on

02:56right now.

02:57The Prime Minister and some members of the government have said that they will not be

03:01willing to accept a court's order that will pause their dismissal of the head of the security

03:08services.

03:09And these are attempts of the government to push forward its judicial overhaul and to

03:14really transform the regime of Israel during a war while there are hostages in Gaza is

03:21a cause for grave concerns for a lot of members of the public and could cause social strife

03:26in Israel.

03:27And that's a grave danger and a fear of many of the people here in Israel.

03:32Good to talk to you this evening, Dr. Guy Laurie, Research Fellow, Democratic Values

03:36and Institutions Program at Georgetown University and attorney as well.

03:39Great to have you on.

03:40It's amazing what you're saying to me, thank you.

03:43Thanks for joining us.

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