Thousands of people in Tel Aviv have come together to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss the head of Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence service and resume fighting in Gaza.
Netanyahu had announced his intention to fire Ronen Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, due to a loss of confidence. This decision has sparked three days of protests.
The Israeli leader insisted that the country will continue to remain democratic, despite the security chief’s dismissal. Protesters, however, waved Israeli flags and demanded a deal for the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.
Moshe Haaharony, one of the protesters, accused Netanyahu of being more dangerous to Israel than any other enemy, stating that the Prime Minister has not cared for the country or its citizens over the past two decades.
Netanyahu has denied any political motivation behind the decision, while critics accuse him of undermining Israel’s democracy. Israel’s Supreme Court has issued an injunction, temporarily freezing the dismissal.
Tensions have been running high between Netanyahu and Bar for months, especially amid the ongoing bribery investigation focused on the prime minister’s office and blames over the failure to prevent the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel. Bar wrote that his ouster was aimed to stop the investigation of events leading up to the attacks.
Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, called for a general strike on Saturday if Netanyahu refused to heed the Supreme Court’s ruling on freezing Bar’s dismissal. He argued that this would make the government an outlaw, urging the entire country to shut down except for the security system.
Others are denouncing what they perceive as an autocratic shift by Netanyahu, including impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. Baharav-Miara warned Netanyahu that the Supreme Court’s decision prohibits him from appointing a new Shin Bet chief.
Protesters held up placards demanding an end to the bloodshed and the release of captives held in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. They criticize the Israeli government’s failure to achieve its objectives in the ongoing war with Hamas.
While Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, Ophir Falk, argued that military pressure would force Hamas to release the remaining captives, the situation remains uncertain, as the resumption of the war puts the lives of the captives, believed to be up to 24, in danger.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/3/22/thousands-of-israelis-protest-shin-bet-chiefs-dismissal-for-captives?traffic_source=rss
