Shin Bet chief says he was chosen for his loyalty to elected leaders, triggering political storm

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Shin Bet Director David Zini sparked the largest controversy of his term late Tuesday night when I24 News released selected excerpts from a speech he gave earlier to his Yeshiva alma mater, in which he discusses the importance of loyalty to the executive branch and also attacks the legal establishment.

While Zini did intend to express support for following the political echelon’s directives and also intended to criticize the legal establishment, The Jerusalem Post has received the full recordings of his remarks, which leave a somewhat more moderate and nuanced series of messages

Speaking about when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed him, with his entering office as Shin Bet chief in October 2025, Zini said, “When the prime minister asked if I wanted to be the head of the Shin Bet,” Zini’s many critics would have demanded that he refuse the offer. Instead he explained that he accepted the role, but did also tell the prime minister, “that there are also candidates who could be better than me from within the Shin Bet – why won’t you make an offer to them?”

Continuing, Zini said in the full recording, “And the reason that I agreed was for a reason that maybe I am better than the others. For my ability to remain loyal to the elected echelon, not that it matters what their ideology is. It could be others [other than Netanyahu].”

“The elected leadership is not really empowered to manage” areas which are under their authority because unelected professional experts in the government ministries or the defense establishment “have become confused about their role.”

Next, he said in frustration that ministers can issue an order, the order can be approved by other relevant officials, and yet “it will take eight months for the order to be implemented.”

He said this was a significant problem which needed to be addressed: “There is a danger of people who come [into bureaucratic government roles] with a [politicized] agenda and a worldview… Many people talk in slogans about democracy, but living it on a day-to-day basis is not that easy.”

According to Zini, many senior bureaucratic officials in government take over a metaphorical train where their post is to be the train conductor and manager, but they then get lost in thinking that they are supreme, when really they still must receive orders from the elected echelon about which direction to take the train in and what the train’s destination and mission should be.

While Zini’s remarks do show a clear loyalty to Netanyahu and a belief that his predecessors in the Shin Bet and other government officials have put their own personal views far above the elected echelon, it is also clear from his remarks that he would be ready to serve under a new prime minister who is not Netanyahu, if that person should be elected in the upcoming elections.

Regarding the legal establishment, Zini stated, “With all due respect to the lawyers and jurists,” they are meant to be an ancillary tool to assist with specific issues. “I am not speaking about the Justice Ministry, I am speaking about all of the other things.”

At this stage in the video, the audience suddenly started to cheer and clap, after which he pushed back, saying, “No, my friends, don’t take this to that kind of a place. A country with no law and with no legal establishment would be a destroyed state. Don’t take it to that place,” which silenced the applause.

“Not that I do not have criticism [of the legal establishment, but that is not the topic [of this speech]. I want to speak about the deeper issues at the heart of the matter,” in which he lectured the group about the importance of details and nuances.

Once again, Zini clearly placed himself on the side of the spectrum that views the current legal establishment as overly activist in addressing policies from the elected echelons, but his statement that “no legal establishment would be a destroyed state” seems to moderate those views as compared to the intensity of some of the recent coalition attacks on the legal establishment.

Golan says Zini’s statement ‘dangerous’

Democrats party leader Yair Golan called Zini’s statement “one of the most dangerous statements ever made by someone who headed Israel’s security system.”

“Anyone who enters the role with a political agenda and declares that their job is to serve the government and not the state is a danger to the country’s security,” Golan stated in a post on X/Twitter.

“We are at the start of an election campaign. A security service led out of loyalty to the political echelon and not to the law could turn from a tool that protects democracy into a tool that serves a government that wants to cling to power. This is not just a threat to the integrity of the elections and to public trust in the state’s institutions – it’s a real security threat that could harm the country’s stability and its ability to deal with threats from within and without.”

In contrast, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir praised Zini for what he said, saying that it was “the fundamental thing in a democratic country.”

“Now watch the left-wing lunatics and the sycophants of the judicial junta attack him in a fury,” Ben-Gvir wrote. “Don’t fear, David, don’t fear!”

Democrats MK Naama Lazimi said that Zini was “Loyal to the king and not to the kingdom.”

She added that, particularly in a time before elections and while the government was “rebelling against the rule of law,” Zini’s words were an “existential threat to democracy and the security of the state.

“The head of a secret organization that serves the government’s political agenda instead of Israel’s citizens is a weapon aimed at the public and a real threat to the integrity of the elections,” Lazimi stated.

Yesh Atid MK Rami Ben Barak warned Zini not to get confused.

“The Shin Bet chief is subordinate first and foremost to the law and then to the elected government,” she wrote. “There are no private agendas for any head of an organization in the State of Israel.”

Former Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen also criticized Zini’s statements, saying that “The sole loyalty of a security body head, and of every public servant, is first and foremost to the State of Israel, its laws, and its citizens.”

Zini, Cohen stated, was “alarmingly ignoring critical concepts for the success of security organizations, which are upholding statehood and the rule of law.”

Likud MK Ariel Kallner said that Zini’s words on his loyalty raised a serious suspicion that “on the next October 6th, he will wake the Prime Minister.”

Kaller added that he missed former Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

In contrast, MK Simcha Rothman said that Zini’s statements were “self-evident to anyone who cares about the rule of law or democracy.

“Governmental power must be in the hands of an elected government and not in the hands of a closed junta of a bureaucratic and judicial oligarchy,” he stated.

“Look at who is attacking him and you will understand who the dangerous fascists are whom we must not allow to come near power.”

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