Israel: Netanyahu faces backlash over Gaza, security service

Thousands of Israelis have taken to the streets in recent days to call for a new hostage deal and to protest against political moves by the far-right religious government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

On Thursday night, protesters marched in Jerusalem to protest Netanyahu's dismissal of Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service. The prime minister said earlier this week that he had lost confidence in Bar.

Overnight, the government "unanimously approved" Netanyahu's proposal to end Bar's term in office by April 10, a statement from the prime minister's office said.

Bar didn't attend the meeting but sent a letter to ministers referencing Shin Bet's ongoing investigation of senior Netanyahu advisors over allegedly receiving paid jobs to promote Qatari interests. The letter warned that firing the director of Israel's security service "reeks of foreign interests" and was an "unprecedented conflict of interest."

The protests also condemned the renewed Israeli offensive in Gaza, which has abruptly ended a two-month temporary ceasefire. Netanyahu's decision to resume bombardments on Tuesday has killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians and made the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza uncertain.

Netanyahu's political balancing act

For weeks, Netanyahu has been maneuvering between far-right threats to topple his government, his own political survival and demands from many Israelis who want the return of hostages to take precedence over the total defeat of Hamas that the prime minister has promised.

There was a sense among Israelis that Bar's dismissal was linked to the agency's investigations into its failures before and on the day of the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023. The investigations reportedly point to the failure of Netanyahu's policies to contain the Palestinian militant group, which Germany, the EU, the US and others designate a terrorist organization.

Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar had been investigating government failures of the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023Image: COHEN-MAGEN/AFP/Getty Images

Shin Bet also opened an investigation in February into alleged links between senior advisors in the prime minister's office and Qatar, a major financial backer of Hamas in recent years. A gag order bars the publication of any details of the probe.

Israeli Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara has opposed Netanyahu's plan to dismiss Bar, saying the prime minister cannot proceed without a "factual and legal" basis. In response, Netanyahu has accused Baharav-Miara of abusing her authority, and Israeli officials have said she could be fired next.

Like some other Israeli security officials, Bar had taken responsibility for the agency's failure to prevent the October 7 Hamas attacks and said he would resign before the end of his term. However, while most Israelis want Bar to resign, they are uncomfortable with the reasons for his dismissal.

"There is the question of timing, which reeks of politics," Yoav Limor, a journalist for the conservative free tabloid Israel Hayom, wrote on March 19. "In an odd coincidence, Itamar Ben-Gvir returned to the government just after the fighting resumed and a short time after the ouster (as yet incomplete) of GSS Director Ronen Bar, which Ben-Gvir had demanded."

Itamar Ben-Gvir returned as Israel's minister of national security shortly after airstrikes in Gaza resumedImage: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP/dpa/picture alliance

Ben-Gvir, the minister of national security, quit the government in January over Israel's ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas. His return to government on Tuesday came mere hours after Israel's renewed airstrikes on the Palestinian territory.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, another far-right governing partner, also remains in the coalition. Smotrich had repeatedly threatened to leave the government if it negotiated and entered the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.

The second phase involved the gradual release of all the remaining 59 hostages, the complete withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza and a permanent end to the war. Public opinion polls in Israel have consistently shown broad support for moving on to the second phase.

The support of these two key coalition partners has firmed up Netanyahu's majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, ahead of a crucial state budget vote. If the budget is not passed by March 31, parliament will be dissolved, triggering a new election.

Netanyahu has rejected claims of political tactics, blaming Hamas and its refusal to release more hostages for the collapse of the ceasefire.

Protesters demanded that Netanyahu prioritize bringing hostages home over defeating HamasImage: Mostafa Alkhrouf/Andalou/picture alliance

Former hostages speak out against Israeli offensive

Critics have said Netanyahu's recent moves are part of a broader campaign to avoid taking responsibility for his government's failure to prevent the October 7 attacks. So far, Netanyahu has rejected all attempts to establish a state commission of inquiry, saying this should be done after the war.

The renewed Israeli offensive and Netanyahu's strategy of maximum pressure on Hamas have also shattered the hopes of many hostage families. On Tuesday, some made their way to the Knesset, fearing that the fate of their loved ones had been sealed.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an umbrella group representing many of the families, accused the government of abandoning the remaining 59 hostages in Gaza, at least 24 of whom are still believed to be alive.

Former hostages have also criticized the new offensive. One of them, Iair Horn, spoke at a rally in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Horn was released in mid-February, but his brother Eitan remains in captivity.

"All the [Hamas propoganda] videos that you've seen of me and Eitan, of Matan Angrest, of Guy Gilboa-Dalal and Evyatar David, all the videos were signs of life, and I hope they don't become their final videos because of the return to fighting," he told the crowd.

Many of those who were released from Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire have testified about how their conditions worsened in direct relation to the actions of the Israeli government. They spoke of being beaten, starved or subjected to psychological abuse by their Hamas captors.

"We can deal with Hamas later, but first, the hostages, they don't have time. They need to come back," one protester, who declined to give his name, told DW in Jerusalem.

Edited by: Martin Kübler and Davis VanOpdorp