Monday was a day that will not be forgotten anytime soon. It pulled back the curtain on the staggering dysfunction that has taken root at the highest levels of the Israeli government. What unfolded throughout this day was not just one story but several, all converging in a way that even a veteran Hollywood screenwriter might find too unrealistic.
The day began at around 6:50 a.m. when the Prime Minister’s Office issued a surprise statement announcing the appointment of V.-Adm. (ret.) Eli Sharvit, the former commander of the Israel Navy, as the new head of the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency.
It was a curious choice. Sharvit, after all, comes from a naval background, not from within the intelligence or security communities. His understanding of the intricate inner workings of the Shin Bet, the threats it deals with, and the internal restructuring it desperately needs in the wake of October 7 is, at best, an open question.
What we do know is that Sharvit had some supporters. Gadi Eisenkot, hardly someone who can be described as a card-carrying member of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fan club, offered praise:
“A leader with an ethical and professional backbone… I’m certain he’ll advance the organization according to its purpose and remain loyal to the State of Israel.” High words from a former IDF chief and someone who understands the gravity of what the agency now faces.
It also was not the first time a navy man was tapped to lead the Shin Bet in a time of trauma. After the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin in 1995 – a moment that devastated and raised serious questions about the agency’s operational capabilities – V.-Adm. (ret.) Ami Ayalon was appointed to shake up and reform it. Netanyahu, undoubtedly aware of this precedent, likely saw Sharvit as his own version of a post-crisis fixer. If Shimon Peres could do it, so could he.
But Netanyahu misread the room.
Within hours, criticism erupted – not from the Left or Center but from within Netanyahu’s own camp. Right-wing lawmakers and commentators quickly pulled up past statements by Sharvit, including his reported attendance at a protest against the government’s judicial overhaul before October 7. That was all it took. What had seemed like a calculated and historically rooted appointment became radioactive.
Netanyahu had to pivot. To distance himself from Sharvit, he offered an alternate explanation after someone discovered an op-ed Sharvit had written two months earlier criticizing US President Donald Trump’s environmental policies. According to Netanyahu’s camp, this single column endangered Israel’s security alliance with the United States, rendering Sharvit unfit to lead the Shin Bet.
By Tuesday morning, the appointment was dead.
Let that sink in: A column about climate change – published months earlier – became the official reason why a decorated admiral, entrusted with the defense of Israel’s waters and naval operations for years, was now suddenly disqualified from leading the Shin Bet.
Alone, this might be dismissed as just another example of the government’s dysfunctionality. Netanyahu’s track record when it comes to senior appointments is riddled with misfires: Yoav Gallant’s failed appointment as IDF chief, Gal Hirsch’s aborted nomination as police commissioner, and numerous others who were floated and then shelved after resistance arose.
But Monday was only getting started.
While Sharvit’s appointment was still being dissected on morning radio, Netanyahu was testifying in his ongoing corruption trial at the Tel Aviv District Court. That, in itself, would have been headline news on any ordinary day. But then came the twist. Mid-testimony, Netanyahu received an urgent call from law enforcement: He was needed immediately – for questioning.
The reason? The expanding Qatargate affair.
That same morning, Zvika Klein, the editor-in-chief of this newspaper and a respected journalist with decades of experience, was also called in for questioning (more on this below). Two of Netanyahu’s closest advisers, Jonatan Urich and Eli Feldstein, had already been arrested. Now, investigators wanted to hear directly from the prime minister.
Netanyahu’s court appearance was cut short. He returned to Jerusalem, where he sat with police investigators for over an hour.
The speed and surrealism of these developments would strain a political TV drama. But this is real life in Israel – a nation fighting a protracted war, facing new threats from Hezbollah, Hamas, and Iran, while also contending with what increasingly appears to be a breakdown of leadership.
If the Sharvit debacle exposed a failure in judgment and planning, the Qatargate scandal cut far deeper.
Let’s be clear about what is at stake: Two senior advisers to the prime minister – men with access to some of the most sensitive and classified material the country possesses – allegedly accepted benefits from a foreign nation that has provided financial support to Hamas. Even if Qatar is not a declared enemy of Israel, it is, without question, a complicated and often adversarial actor on the world stage.
How could these advisers have believed that what they were allegedly doing was legal or ethically acceptable? How could they imagine there would not be consequences? Most significantly, how could this have allegedly occurred without the prime minister’s knowledge?
I sincerely hope that nothing comes of these allegations, but it is hard to shake the feeling that something is not functioning right now at the highest levels of government in this country. The appointment of a security chief, who is desperately needed to rehabilitate an agency that we all depend on to keep us safe; the employment of advisers in an office that is meant to be focused on what is right for the country in the welfare of citizens – all seems broken.
This is all happening while reservists are being called up again, some for the fifth, sixth, and even seventh time since the start of the war. They are leaving behind families, jobs, and livelihoods to defend this nation. And yet, at the same time, the ultra-Orthodox continue to enjoy draft exemptions while benefiting from billions in government funding.
We are a country at war; our enemies are many, and their ambitions are deadly. In moments like this, the nation needs unity and, above all, leadership. What we are getting instead is chaos.
And finally, a word about Zvika Klein
I’ve known Zvika for 15 years. He is a close friend and one of the most principled journalists I have encountered in my career. His dedication to the Israel-Diaspora relationship is unwavering, and his appointment as editor of this newspaper was richly deserved.
I don’t know the details behind the police’s decision to question him. But I do know this: In a functioning democracy, journalists must be free to do their jobs without fear of legal harassment. That includes traveling to countries like Qatar, meeting with sources – friendly or otherwise – and reporting back to the public.
I also know this: I do not question Zvika’s integrity. Not for a second.
Monday gave us a glimpse of where we currently stand. And it should worry us all.
The writer is co-author of a forthcoming book, While Israel Slept, about the October 7 Hamas attacks and is a senior fellow at the Jewish People Policy Institute, a global Jewish think tank based in Jerusalem.
