Israeli opposition to Netanyahu finds voice as war returns to Gaza

A coalition of hostage families and protesters against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's moves against the judiciary and parts of the security establishment is coming together again after war returned this week to Gaza.

The prime minister's decision to resume the war and bombard the Palestinian enclave, with 59 hostages - around 24 of whom are believed to be alive - still held in Gaza has added fresh fuel to the anger of protesters, who accuse the government of continuing the war for political reasons.

Tens of thousands demonstrated on Tuesday night and more protests were taking place on Wednesday after Netanyahu announced at the weekend that he had lost confidence in Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, and had decided to sack him.

"This is no longer a war that is about something that is important, it is all about the survival of this government, the survival of Benjamin Netanyahu," said Koren Offer, a protester in Jerusalem.

Protest groups have ranged from the Defensive Shield Forum, a group representing former defence and security officials, and the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, an anti-corruption group that was active in a bitter battle in 2023 over curbing the power of the Supreme Court, alongside families of the hostages in Gaza.

There is an echo in the current movement of the huge protests that erupted in 2023 - before the Oct 7 Hamas attacks that triggered the war in Gaza - when Netanyahu attempted to sack then-Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over his opposition to the planned judicial overhaul.

It reflects a conviction among critics of Netanyahu that the six-time prime minister represents a danger to Israel's democracy.

"This government does not stop at red lights," Yair Lapid, a former prime minister and head of the centrist opposition party Yesh Atid, said on the social media platform X. "Enough! I call on all of you - this is our moment, this is our future. Take to the streets."

While his right-wing coalition holds together, Netanyahu has been able to defy the protests and stave off calls for new elections. Opinion polls suggest he would lose an election due to continuing public anger over the failures that allowed Hamas to attack southern communities on Oct 7, 2023, in Israel's worst security disaster.

Tuesday's announcement by extreme hardliner Itamar Ben Gvir that he would rejoin the government, after walking out over the ceasefire deal signed in January, underlined the political endorsement the government has gained from the nationalist-religious camp whose support has been vital.

'DISMANTLING POLITICAL UNITY'

Critics of Netanyahu saw his decision to dismiss the head of Shin Bet as a blow to a key state institution that was inflicted for political reasons linked to Shin Bet's involvement in investigations into allegations of corruption by aides in Netanyahu's office.

Netanyahu calls the allegations a politically motivated attack on him. He said the decision on Bar was because he had long ago lost trust in the security chief.

Benny Gantz, head of the largest centrist opposition party, said the decision to fire Bar represented "a direct violation of state security and the dismantling of political unity in Israel for political and personal reasons".

Netanyahu is facing a long-running trial on corruption charges, which he denies. Critics and political adversaries have regularly accused him of exploiting the security situation as a way out of his legal troubles.

Israel's renewed bombardment of Gaza has killed hundreds of Palestinians and drawn condemnation from Arab countries, Europe and the United Nations.

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of breaching a truce that began in mid-January and had offered a respite for Gaza's 2.3 million residents after 17 months of war that has reduced the enclave to rubble and forced the majority of its population to displace multiple times.

Opinion polls in Israel suggest that most people want to end the war and bring the hostages home.

But strengthened by the return of Ben Gvir, there is little sign of any immediate threat to Netanyahu's government from the protests, which are unlikely to match the scale of the demonstrations that forced him to rescind his decision to sack Gallant in 2023.

Although still trailing in the polls, his position has strengthened gradually as the war has gone on. For the moment at least, he appears to enjoy support from US President Donald Trump's administration, which was consulted before Israel launched the strikes.

Some hostage families have supported a return to war. The hardline Tivka group declared on Tuesday that the only way to return all hostages was through a total blockade of Gaza - cutting off electricity and water - and occupying territories to bring about Hamas' collapse.

But for other hostage families and their supporters, the resumption of fighting has deepened their fears for the future.

"I have no idea what is going to happen to the remaining hostages if the fighting keeps on going for the following weeks," said protester Iftach Brill, 45, from Tel Aviv. "It's an absolute disaster for us."