A dramatic shift in the Shin Bet’s position has prompted the state to seek the cancellation of a Supreme Court hearing scheduled for Tuesday after Shin Bet Director David Zini and his deputy concluded that they no longer see a legal obstacle to registering the Kahanist party “Complete and Strong Jewish Israel,” according to a report by Channel 13 News.

The case centers on a petition filed by Yechezkel Yaakov Hasson against the Registrar of Political Parties. The state submitted an urgent request on Monday to cancel the scheduled hearing after Zini and his deputy sent a notice Sunday night expressing reservations about the factual basis that had previously been used to oppose the party’s registration.

Their position marks a significant departure from the stance taken by the Shin Bet under former director Ronen Bar, when the agency supported rejecting the party’s registration over concerns it could promote unlawful activity.

Last month, the Registrar of Political Parties rejected the party’s registration based on intelligence and legal assessments prepared by the Shin Bet during Bar’s tenure. With Zini now distancing himself from those assessments, the report says the Registrar’s position has been fundamentally undermined.

In the urgent filing to the Supreme Court, the Registrar argued that the legal proceedings cannot continue until the original decision is reexamined. According to officials familiar with the matter, the factual foundation on which the decision was based—the Shin Bet’s legal opinion—has now changed dramatically following the intervention of the agency’s current leadership.

As a result, the state is asking the Supreme Court to cancel Tuesday’s hearing while the Registrar conducts a fresh review of the decision to deny the party’s registration.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)