Dhaka, April 18 -- Can an Israeli prime minister dismiss the country's internal security chief? The Israeli Supreme Court considered that question on April 8, when it placed a pause on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's firing of Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet since October 2021. Seemingly expecting a different verdict, however, Netanyahu had announced beforehand that he would ignore any adverse ruling.

Typically, such flagrant disregard for the judiciary, whose authority Netanyahu seems determined to undermine, would have triggered a constitutional crisis. It still could, since the court has frozen Bar's dismissal only until April 20, demanding that the government strike a compromise with the country's independent attorney general, wh...