The full cabinet on Tuesday night unanimously approved the appointment of David Zini as Shin Bet chief despite controversies over the selection to head the security agency, with his five-year tenure set to begin on October 5.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the appointment, stating that the reality after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre “mandated a new Shin Bet head that comes from outside the ranks of the organization,” according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

“The critical thinking that characterized Maj. Gen. Zini, in his various roles, his ability to think outside the box and adapt the system to a changing reality, alongside his extensive operational and command experience in force building and deployment, led to the conclusion that he is the most suitable person to lead the Shin Bet at this time,” the PMO said.

The candidacy of Zini, a former IDF general, was approved last week by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee, which rejected the argument that Netanyahu was barred from proposing a candidate to head the Shin Bet while the agency was actively investigating his advisers over their allegedly illicit ties to Qatar.

Speaking at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting after returning from his White House visit, Netanyahu said that he has been “very impressed with him over the years and has known him for a long time.”

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“I have seen his determination, his leadership, and his ability to think outside conventional frameworks, to see things before they develop,” he said. “I believe he is the right person to lead the Shin Bet — someone who knows the system, but is not part of it. I have no doubt that he will succeed greatly, and I am sure everyone supports this. His success is vital for the security of all Israeli citizens.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at a cabinet meeting on September 30, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

President Isaac Herzog congratulated Zini after the vote, saying that he “brings with him decades of rich and varied experience as a warrior and commander in the defense of Israel and its citizens.”

“In these tense and threatened days, when even today innocent Israelis were brutally attacked in a terrorist act, it is important for all of us to remember how vital the Shin Bet’s… functioning is to protecting Israeli society, its security, and its values,” Herzog said in a statement.

Zini is a controversial figure with self-described “messianic” views. He has also reportedly said during private discussions with former senior security officials that “the judicial system is a dictatorship that rules the State of Israel.”

According to some reports, several officials in the Shin Bet have threatened to resign if Zini takes over the agency.

AG’s office: Zini must hold legal consult before dealing with issues linked to PM

A legal position paper filed Tuesday with the government by the Attorney General’s Office asserted that as Shin Bet chief, Zini must consult the agency’s legal adviser before dealing with any issues connected to the personal or political concerns of Netanyahu.

Deputy Attorney General Orli Fishman, who authored the legal opinion, included the stipulation in the position paper due to the finding of the advisory committee, which approved Zini’s appointment, that Netanyahu had made requests of former Shin Bet chiefs “that are not appropriate in a democratic regime.”

Fishman wrote that although there were legal difficulties with Zini’s appointment connected to the so-called Qatargate investigations, there were no legal obstacles to his taking office as head of the Shin Bet.

Protesters demonstrate against the nomination of retired IDF general David Zini to head the Shin Bet, after his candidacy for the position was approved by the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee on September 26, 2025. (Courtesy)

Golan vows to oust Zini if elected to government, sparking backlash

The Democrats alliance chairman, Yair Golan, pledged Tuesday that if voted into power, he will oust Zini as Shin Bet chief, drawing criticism from former prime minister Naftali Bennett.

After tweeting that the country’s next government will replace every appointee who “deviates from the democratic path,” Golan confirmed to Army Radio that this includes Zini.

Golan said Zini’s candidacy was “tainted by extraneous considerations” and that “the only quality that makes him the one chosen for the position by the prime minister is the belief that he will grant him exemption from investigations in the Qatar affair.”

The Democrats party leader Yair Golan attends a rally outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Responding to Golan, Bennett, who is planning to run again in the coming elections, defended Zini.

“In the corrective government that will be formed, every official will be measured by his actions for the good of the state, not by the prejudices of politicians or the media,” he wrote in a post on X.

He added that Zini’s appointment process “was flawed, by no fault of Zini’s,” but stressed that “from the moment Maj. Gen. David Zini is lawfully appointed; he is the head of the Shin Bet of the State of Israel. I wish him success in this national and vital role.”

A fraught nomination process

Zini was first nominated by Netanyahu as head of the agency in May, following the controversial ouster of former chief Ronen Bar.

Bar had been dismissed by cabinet vote on March 21 based on Netanyahu’s assertion that he had lost confidence in the Shin Bet chief’s ability to do the job in the wake of the October 7 onslaught.

Government watchdog groups petitioned the High Court against the decision, alleging that Bar had been dismissed due to his defiance of the prime minister on several key issues, and not for professional considerations. They also charged that Netanyahu had a conflict of interest in the replacement process because the Shin Bet was investigating the prime minister’s close aides in the Qatargate affair as well as instances of document leaks.

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar attends a ceremony at Yad Vashem on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 23, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The court froze Bar’s removal as it reviewed the matter. The next day, however, Netanyahu announced he would seek to have Zini installed as the next chief of the domestic security agency.

Bar resigned in June amid the controversy, and has since been replaced in an interim capacity by his former deputy, known only as “Shin,” until Zini or someone else is formally appointed to the post.

Last Thursday, the Senior Appointments Advisory Committee approved Zini’s candidacy despite strident protests from a string of former heads of the Shin Bet, paving the way for the cabinet to vote him in.

A six-page letter from the panel, signed by retired Supreme Court president and committee chairman Asher Grunis and two senior committee members, said that there was no disqualifying conflict of interest in Zini’s appointment.

The committee rejected the claim that Netanyahu was barred from proposing a candidate because the Shin Bet was actively investigating his advisers for their ties to Qatar.

It also found that although Netanyahu had offered the position to Zini in the prime minister’s car while the latter was still in active military duty, without first consulting the IDF chief of staff, that did not constitute “a breach of integrity” but only a violation of custom.