High Court sets April 8 date to hear petitions against Shin Bet chief’s dismissal

The High Court of Justice on Sunday set April 8 as the date to hear petitions against the government’s controversial decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

The petitions will be heard by a panel consisting of Supreme Court President Isaac Amit, incoming Deputy Supreme Court President Noam Sohlberg and Justice Daphne Barak-Erez.

Both Amit and Barak-Erez are liberals, while Sohlberg is a staunch conservative.

In some cases of heightened impact and consequence, the High Court panel itself may decide to increase the number of judges presiding over a case.

A slew of petitions were filed to the High Court following the Thursday night decision to dismiss Bar, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the entire government had a conflict of interest in firing the Shin Bet head, due to the security agency’s ongoing investigation into allegedly unlawful ties between close aides to Netanyahu and Qatar.

The........

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