Supreme Court Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz ruled on Tuesday that she does not accept Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara’s position to temporarily ban Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from interviewing candidates to replace Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. “I did not see fit to expand the scope of the order,” she wrote in her decision. However, she left the order to freeze the dismissal process in place. The hearing on the various petitions against the dismissal is expected to take place in about two weeks, even before the date set for Bar’s dismissal. The meaning of the decision is that Bar’s dismissal process will continue for the time being, and Netanyahu will be able to interview candidates for the position. The dismissal itself is subject to the court’s decision in the hearing that will take place on April 8. This is in contrast to the “legal opinion” of Baharav-Miara, who stated as a “fact” that Netanyahu is forbidden to interview candidates during the freeze. I24NEWS reported at the beginning of the week that the main candidate Netanyahu is considering to replace Bar is former Deputy Head of the Shin Bet, Yair (Roli) Sagi – who until recently was referred to only as R. Sagi previously served as the head of the Staff Division in the Shin Bet and the head of the Southern District. During Operation Protective Edge, he pushed the political echelon to destroy the Hamas tunnels. Sagi is considered an “Arabist” and has a long-standing familiarity with Hamas and is knowledgeable in the intricacies of the Gazan arena. One main advantage that Sagi has over other candidates is that he is not associated with the failure to predict and prevent the October 7 massacre as he was not serving in the Shin Bet during that time. (YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)