The dramatic High Court of Justice hearing on Tuesday regarding the government’s decision to fire Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar was intertwined with all the tragedy that has plagued the country since October 7.
Audience members who were against the court shouted, “Shame!” and “You don’t have the authority!”
Before the legal proceedings began, bereaved father Itzik Bonzel yelled, “Who are you defending? A man who failed on October 7?”
His son, St.-Sgt. Amit Bonzel was killed in the Gaza Strip in December 2023.
Bonzel was escorted out of the courtroom, which is a rare occurrence.
“What’s going on here?” said Likud MK Tally Gotliv. “How can you kick out a bereaved father?”
Bonzel was then brought back in – just as the hearing began.
Bereaved fathers disrupt hearing
As attorney Zion Amir, who represents the government, began his remarks, Bonzel interrupted him from the audience.
“A court that I respect is asking whether [Bar] was fired in the right manner. Our children are lying in the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery. This man said that he was responsible – you don’t need to even be discussing this! Bar cannot be trusted,” Bonzel said.
This led to a loud scuffle, with angry remarks from the legal teams and audience members.
Deputy Chief Justice Noam Solberg addressed Bonzel, saying, “We feel your pain.”
Chief Justice Isaac Amit said, “This has to be the only court in the world where this is allowed to happen,” and called for a recess.
Shortly after, the court issued a decision that the hearing would continue to take place without an audience. Bonzel, along with Yehoshua Shani – another bereaved father – refused to leave.
“This is my court! This is the people’s court!” said Bonzel.
He continued, “Who are you defending, [the judges]? My son, Yehoshua’s son – he’s your son. My son didn’t care who in his crew supported or was against Netanyahu. Bar said he was responsible, and he is! Why are you defending him?”
The two were eventually removed alongside Gotliv after Amit warned the room that disturbances during the court session were prohibited. Gotliv was removed after yelling back at Amit. From that point on, only lawyers and journalists were permitted in the courtroom.
Attorney Eliad Shraga, who heads the Movement for Quality Government, one of the eight groups petitioning the court, said, “What happened here today will become a stain forever. I’ve been doing this for 35 years. I’ve never seen such a violent mob. It cannot be that parliamentarians come in here time and time again and disrupt the proceedings.”
Eliad said this in a reference to Gotliv.
“This is not a political hearing,” said Amit. “It is a very narrow issue.”
Almog Cohen (Otzma Yehudit), a former MK and a current deputy minister shouted from the audience, “I am embarrassed by you for your treatment of bereaved families!”
Some of the victims of October 7 were represented by several of the petitioners.
“If Ronen Bar had done his job, these people wouldn’t have been killed. One soldier was in a T-shirt and shorts and barely had time to grab his weapons,” one petitioner said.
He added, “Twenty-five people tried to join the petition... These families can’t petition on their own. The only way is through me. Ronen Bar is invited to speak, but these people are not?”
In response, the justices insisted that he zero in on his judicial arguments and stop “attacking the court.”
The petitioner added, “When the head of the Shin Bet isn’t talking to the prime minister, that’s a dangerous place for us to be in, and it could enable another October 7.”
Bonzel addresses court, decries ludicrous reality of discussing Bar dismissal
Bonzel addressed the court next as a signatory to the petition and a lawyer himself. His two sons, Nadav and Amit, went to the Gaza border area on October 7. They were some of the first to arrive on the scene.
According to Bonzel, a few days after October 7, on the last day it took to clear the border community towns, one of his sons called him and said, “You can tell them to close Yad Vashem – that’s a romantic movie compared to what I have experienced here.”
And, Bonzel added, his son Amit never did come home.
He emphasized that he was telling the court this story because “we, the bereaved families, are actually the story here – not procedures, and not authorities. The government and the courts should have stopped this hearing to begin with. How can it be that the person whose dismissal is being discussed is not even in the room?”
“When I hear that the same Bar who left us all here to argue about him said that he was responsible for failing to protect Israelis, how can it be that we are even discussing this?” Bonzel asked.
“If this man continues in his role, there will be more failures, more expansions of the circle of grief and bereavement,” he maintained.