By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-20 22:41:31 | Updated at 2025-03-21 14:48:05
16 hours ago
Thousands of Israelis joined protests against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as demonstrations against his move to oust the head of the domestic intelligence service flared for a third consecutive day.
Police fired water cannon and made numerous arrests as scuffles broke out during the protests in Tel Aviv and close to the prime minister’s residence in Jerusalem, where police said dozens of protesters tried to break through security cordons.
Over the past three days, demonstrators protesting against the move to sack Shin Bet head Ronen Bar have joined forces with protesters angry at the decision to resume fighting in Gaza, breaking a two-month-old ceasefire, while 59 Israeli hostages remain in the Palestinian enclave.
“We’re very, very worried that our country is becoming a dictatorship,” Rinat Hadashi, 59, said in Jerusalem. “They’re abandoning our hostages, they’re neglecting all the important things for this country.”
Netanyahu said this week he had lost confidence in Bar, who has led Shin Bet since 2021, and intended to dismiss him.
The decision followed months of tension between the two over a corruption investigation into allegations that a number of aides in Netanyahu’s office were offered bribes by figures connected with Qatar.
Netanyahu has dismissed the accusation as a politically motivated attempt to unseat him but his critics have accused him of undermining the institutions underpinning Israel’s democracy by seeking Bar’s removal.
