By 

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL (AA) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to order Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar to provide a date for his resignation, the Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported.

In a written submission to the court on Monday, Bar said he plans to resign in the near future, without specifying when.

Senior legal officials described Netanyahu’s request as a “clear attempt to evade submitting his written testimony in response to serious allegations made by the Shin Bet chief” and a tactic to “buy time from the Supreme Court, which rejected a similar request just days ago,” the newspaper noted.

It remains unclear whether Netanyahu intends to submit a written affidavit to the court to address Bar’s claims, it added.

The daily warned that submitting such a statement carries risks, as “failing to tell the truth in a written affidavit could constitute a criminal offense.”

In a related statement Tuesday, Netanyahu’s office acknowledged that he had asked Bar to take action against “lawbreakers,” referring to activists protesting against his government.

“The prime minister never requested restrictions on any protesters but made an obvious demand of the Shin Bet chief—to fulfill his duty against lawbreakers threatening his life or his family’s safety and breaching his security perimeter,” it said.

In his Monday court submission responding to the government’s March decision to dismiss him—a decision the Supreme Court has frozen—Bar revealed that Netanyahu had urged him to pursue anti-government protesters, politicize the Shin Bet, and attempt to delay his corruption trial on security pretexts, among other issues.

The Supreme Court issued a temporary order in early April preventing the government from dismissing Bar, announcing his replacement, or issuing directives to his subordinates following opposition petitions challenging the dismissal.

On March 20, the government unanimously approved Bar’s dismissal, which was set to take effect on April 10, but the Supreme Court froze the decision on March 21 pending review of opposition petitions.

Netanyahu justified Bar’s dismissal, citing a “lack of trust” stemming from the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, while Bar suggested political motives, pointing to his refusal to pledge “personal loyalty” to the prime minister.

Israel has killed nearly 51,200 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.