The Shadow Theater: Power, Perception, and Control in Israeli Institutions

The recent case involving Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's alleged obstruction of high-level appointments reveals a deeper, recurring dynamic within Israel's power structure.

In this instance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to appoint Major General David Zini as head of the Shin Bet, only for the process to be quietly dismantled before it could take shape. What sets this episode apart from countless other blocked appointments, often executed by legal advisors or judicial figures, is the seemingly coordinated choreography between the judiciary and the security establishment.

Before Zini's appointment could be formalized, he was first released from the IDF, left to "cool off" for two days in a limbo-like state, and then finally denied the position. As a result, he found himself not only without the Shin Bet leadership role but also stripped of his prior position in the military - effectively unemployed.

Though Netanyahu has at times shown alignment with the legal and security establishments, this particular sequence suggests a different kind of message: a coordinated signal from both systems, timed to demonstrate their combined leverage and to remind the prime minister of the necessity of deeper alignment with their agendas.

This soap opera of appointments, rejections, leaks, and backchannel maneuvers between Israel’s prime minister, judiciary, and security forces serves primarily one beneficiary: the judicial system itself - and, by extension, the current Likud-led government. The public, meanwhile, has become so inundated with years of gossip and pseudo power struggles that it remains cognitively paralyzed, unable to trace the source of the flickering shadows projected on the cave wall.

Anyone - like Yehonatan Kapach or Ilan Tzion, who dares to point to the fire behind the shadows, attempting to expose the manufactured divisions and shared authorship of this spectacle, risks being silenced, exiled, or socially ostracized.

Ultimately, this spectacle is not about governance, national security, or legal integrity. It is about preserving an illusion of conflict and independence between Israel’s governing bodies, all while maintaining a tightly controlled balance of power behind the scenes.