"There will be no civil war!" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wrote on X on Friday, firing back at the former Supreme Court chief justice Aharon Barak. "The State of Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet."
The High Court of Justice on Friday froze the government's Thursday decision to fire Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar until the hearing on the petition against the move.
The prime minister's decision came amid the Shin Bet investigation into Netanyahu aides who were allegedly involved in Qatargate.
What did Barak say?
Barak, on Thursday, said in an interview on Channel 12 that Israel is "very close to civil war," sparking others to comment on Friday.
He made the comment when asked whether Israel was "an instant away from a civil war."
"The rift in the nation is enormous; no effort is being made to heal it, and everyone is trying to exacerbate it," he said.
"Today, there are protests, so a car drives through them and runs over someone, and tomorrow there will be gunshots, and the day after, blood will be spilled," he added.
According to Barak, "There are several red lines that we have already crossed, lines I never imagined we would reach."
"A red line that said, 'We will not establish a state commission of inquiry.' A red line that said, 'The legal advisor says, so what?' The deep state is the bureaucracy that tells the elected officials what to do. We have reached a point where today, whatever the court says, if it aligns with our views, we will implement it."
