Thousands of Israelis have taken part in antigovernment protests after Netanyahu resumed strikes in Gaza.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused the opposition of fuelling “anarchy” in Israel, after mass antigovernment protests in recent days, while the opposition leader Yair Lapid has called for a “revolt” if the government refuses to accept verdicts issued by the country’s Supreme Court.
Addressing the opposition during a speech in parliament on Wednesday, Netanyahu said, “You recycle the same worn-out and ridiculous slogans about ‘the end of democracy’. Well, once and for all: Democracy is not in danger, it is the power of the bureaucrats that is in danger.”
“Perhaps you could stop putting spanners in the works of the government in the middle of a war? Perhaps you could stop fuelling the sedition, hatred and anarchy in the streets?” he added.
Thousands of Israelis have taken part in several days of antigovernment protests, accusing Netanyahu of undermining democracy by removing Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet internal security agency and resuming strikes in Gaza without any regard for captives held in the besieged enclave.
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Netanyahu is locked in a battle with the Shin Bet chief, who is running a bribery investigation into the prime minister’s office, citing a lack of “trust”. The two men have been at loggerheads, fuelled by bitter recriminations over the failure to prevent the Hamas-led October 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
The demonstrations, which erupted last week, have been organised by a broad coalition of anti-Netanyahu groups who say the Israeli leader is trying to stay in power at any cost.
The Supreme Court froze Bar’s dismissal after several appeals were filed, including by opposition leader Yair Lapid’s centre-right Yesh Atid party.
The opposition’s appeal highlighted what critics see as the two main reasons Netanyahu moved against Bar.
The first was his criticism of the government over the security failure that allowed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the deadliest day in the country’s history.
The second was what the opposition appeal said was a Shin Bet investigation into Netanyahu’s close associates on suspicion of receiving money linked to Qatar.
Netanyahu’s office has dismissed the accusations as “fake news”.
Calling for a ‘revolt’
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid called for a “revolt” against the government of Netanyahu if it refused to accept verdicts issued by the country’s Supreme Court.
“A government that doesn’t obey the court is a criminal government that should not be obeyed,” Lapid told local radio 103FM.
“If the government does not comply with the Supreme Court, we must shut down the country, and that would be the end of everything.”
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Israel’s cabinet also passed a vote of no confidence on Sunday against the country’s attorney general, Baharav-Miara, the first step in a process to dismiss her.
Netanyahu’s office pointed to “significant and prolonged differences between the government and the government’s legal adviser,” a key part of the attorney general’s job.
Following the Supreme Court’s initial ruling in the Bar case, Baharav-Miara said Netanyahu could not name a new internal security chief and was “prohibited to take any action that harms” his position.