Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel was expected on Thursday to formally fire the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency despite growing street protests over the move.
The Israeli cabinet was set to convene for a nighttime vote on the dismissal of the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, just days after Mr. Netanyahu announced his intention to oust him, citing a lack of personal trust between them. It comes as Israel’s military resumes a campaign in Gaza that has raised concern among many Israelis about the fates of the hostages still held in the enclave.
The Shin Bet is deeply involved in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, providing intelligence and targets. By law, the agency is also tasked with protecting Israeli democracy.
The discord between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Bar goes to the heart of a broader battle playing out over the nature and future of Israel’s democracy. Critics of Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel’s history, accuse it of working to reduce the authority of independent state watchdogs and to remove checks and balances on the powers of the government, which holds a narrow majority in Parliament.
The firing of Mr. Bar on grounds of personal trust has also raised public concerns that future appointments may be based primarily on loyalty to the prime minister.
Mr. Bar, who has led the agency since 2021, issued a rare public statement last week, after Mr. Netanyahu’s announcement, saying that Mr. Netanyahu’s expectation of “personal trust” was in opposition to the public interest.
“It’s a fundamentally flawed expectation that is in contravention with the Shin Bet law and statesmanship,” Mr. Bar said.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Jerusalem on Wednesday in anticipation of the move and more protests were expected on Thursday. The new protests recall weekly demonstrations in 2023 against attempts to overhaul the judiciary to reduce its power to act as a check on the government, with business leaders at one point joining labor unions to hold a national strike.
Mr. Netanyahu and his allies have made accusations of overreach against the judiciary and other independent branches, saying that they have hampered the government’s freedom to make decisions and to represent the will of voters.
Mr. Netanyahu has been under police investigation and is on trial on charges of corruption, which he denies. He has increasingly accused a liberal “deep state” of conducting a witch hunt against him and his family.
For months, Mr. Bar had angered Mr. Netanyahu by investigating officials in the prime minister’s office over claims that they had leaked secret documents and also worked for people connected to Qatar, an Arab state close to Hamas. Mr. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing; the Qatari government did not respond to requests for comment.
Appearing emboldened domestically, as well as in Gaza, by the staunch support of the U.S. administration, Mr. Netanyahu made common cause with President Trump in a blunt social media post late Wednesday.
“In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will,” he wrote. “They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together.”
Elon Musk replied with a red “100” emoji, suggesting that he agreed with Mr. Netanyahu.
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