Protests are Back in Style
An explainer of why the protest movement is picking up steam again in Israel
If you’ve had the luxury of staying off the news recently, you may have missed the protest movement gathering steam again in Israel. I can literally hear them right now outside my apartment.
Last Tuesday night, 40,000 strong spontaneously gathered to protest Bibi firing the head of the Shin Bet (Israel’s domestic intelligence agency), in what was one of the largest protests against the government since October 7th. That protest paled in comparison to Saturday night’s organized protest, which saw 200,000 protestors take to the streets against the government.
The scenes are reminiscent of the pre-October 7th judicial overhaul protests, when the government planned to pass divisive legislation to weaken the power of the Judiciary. Since October 7th, the protests largely stopped, though thousands rally weekly in support of a hostage deal.
So, what changed? Why are they protesting now? Let’s break down the five reasons, listed in chronological order, and not in effect of bringing people out into the streets.
1. Firing the Attorney General
The role of the AG in Israel is a bit complicated, but the three main functions are to interpret the law for the government, represent the coalition in court if needed, and is the chief prosecutor. Essentially, the AG decides if government decisions are legal or not.
So, you could imagine that a right-wing government might have problems with a left-leaning AG, and that’s exactly what’s playing out. Appointed by the previous government, AG Gali Baharav-Miara has long been a thorn in this government’s side, and earlier this month, the coalition began the process of firing her.
But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and the protestors see her as a bulwark of democracy, protecting their interests from the coalition’s clutches. Baharav-Miara has repeatedly ruled against the coalition, much to the chagrin of the government, but transmogrifying her into an icon to rally behind.
They see her as protecting their rights and ideology, and without her, the government would have freer reign to do as they please, and so they’re out protesting. The coalition believes they should have the right to appoint their own AG who has their legal philosophy.
It is worth mentioning that Israelis are pretty split if she should be fired or not.
2. The Resumption of Hostilities
The overwhelming majority of Israelis support a hostage deal. The hostage issue penetrates each and every person’s heart in Israel, and (almost) everyone wants to see them brought back home, even at the expense of Hamas temporarily regrouping and rearming.
So, when Israel resumed military operations a week ago after the 42-day first phase of the ceasefire, plus an additional 14 days of de facto calm, people began to come out to the street to pressure the government into a deal. To them, they believe that military pressure is likely to prolong the plight of the hostages rather than bring them home. To the government, a resumption of military activity is a tactic to both accomplish the war goals and weaken Hamas’s negotiating power to bring the hostages home.
Israel and the Trump Administration were allegedly trying to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, keeping the “peace” in return for the release of more hostages, but negotiations collapsed.
Ultimately, it depends if you believe the onus for the dead end in negotiations is on Hamas or on Israel. The protestors believe the government should have given up more in negotiations to get the hostages home.
And now they’re in the streets making their voices heard.
3. Bibi tries to fire Ronen Bar, Head of the Shin Bet
Similar to the hostage deal, almost every Israeli supports a new chief of the Shin Bet. All leaders, both political and military, responsible for October 7th are expected to take accountability and resign, and Bar had yet to do that, stating that when the hostages come home, he’ll step down.
Unfortunately for Bar, he didn’t get to see his mission out. After Herzi Halevi, the IDF Chief of Staff during October 7th, stepped down (was pushed out?) earlier this month, Bibi felt it was time for Bar to go too.
So, if Bar’s departure was just a matter of time, why did it spark tens of thousands of people to jump into the streets?
It was the timing.
The Shin Bet had just announced that they would be opening a criminal probe into the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to investigate Qatari influence, as there are very serious allegations that Qatar indirectly paid Bibi’s advisors, one of whom was already under suspicion for leaking classified documents to the media.
The exact details of the case are under a gag order (in Israel, there is a censor on what can be published if it can harm national security), but two of Bibi’s confidants were detained for questioning—and then released—on suspicion of money laundering, fraud, and contact with a foreign agent.
Shortly after the Shin Bet announced the investigation, Bibi began proceedings to remove Ronen Bar, allegedly trying to nip the threat of investigation in the bud. The Prime Minister denies this, saying that he started the process before the announcement of the investigation.
Alternatively, it could be that Bibi has other considerations regarding firing Bar, who is, professionally speaking, a dead man walking. But it didn’t appear that way to the protestors.
In other words: Coincidence? They think not.
4. The Annual Budget
Every coalition must pass a budget by March 31st of that year, and if they fail to, the government automatically collapses and Israel heads to elections. Given that next week is March 31st, there was tremendous pressure on the coalition to pass a budget, which they did on Tuesday.
The protestors used the budget as an opportunity to pressure lawmakers into voting against it, decrying the fiscal allocation as harmful to Israel’s future, while the coalition hailed it as a victory for reservists and national security. In a cynical and fiery speech from the Knesset Plenum on Wednesday, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid railed against the budget for cutting the salaries of public sector workers and increasing taxes while giving funds to the ultra-Orthodox, all while they continue to avoid drafting to the IDF.
Admittedly, this wasn’t the major impetus for protests, but because of the hard deadline and overall hatred for the coalition, protestors thought it would be worth a shot to block the Knesset entrance, making it tough for members of the coalition to physically vote on the budget.
Despite the protests, the budget passed, albeit with a whopping 20,000 objections from the opposition.
5. The Judicial Reform is Back
The pre-October 7th judicial reform is back, baby! Did you miss it?
As I’m writing this on Thursday morning, the Knesset has just passed a key piece of legislation that will change the way Supreme Court justices are selected. Take note: this is not the same proposal from two years ago; it’s been watered down due to the influence of Foreign Minister Gidon Sa’ar and two centrist mediators.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details of the changes, Supreme Court justices are picked by a nine-member committee, previously comprised of two ministers, two Members of Knesset (usually one opposition and one coalition), three Supreme Court Justices, and two members of the Israeli Bar. The law changes the makeup of the committee to give more power to elected officials instead, getting rid of the Israeli Bar and instead the opposition and coalition can appoint one lawyer each.
Also, rather than needing a super majority to appoint a justice, now a simple majority will suffice, but that majority must include at least one member of all the groups—coalition, opposition, and the judges—effectively giving each party a veto power.
The new composition of the committee makes it significantly more politicized, which detractors see as harming the independence of the Court, since now judges who want to get appointed may have to rule by party lines. Supporters of the reform argue, however, that this increases the Supreme Court’s representation of Israeli society and actually makes it significantly more democratic.
Opponents of the government criticized the reform, with the opposition uniting to call it a threat to democracy. Meanwhile, many journalists are warn about the unraveling of Israeli democracy and some organizations are contemplating a strike.
On the one hand, the reform brings the nomination process closer to that of the United States, where justices are appointed by elected officials. On the other, Israel only has two real branches of government—the Knesset and the Judiciary—and opponents see this as weakening the independence of the Judiciary.
Either way, the reform won’t go into effect until the next coalition takes office, and they can summarily revoke it if they so choose.
What’s Next?
As investigations unfold, deals negotiated, and political processes play out, there’s never a dull day in Israel. We could be heading for an intensification of the Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, or heading back to a ceasefire. On April 8th, the Supreme Court will decide if the government is legally allowed to fire Ronen Bar, and we may not know for weeks about the fate of AG Baharav-Miara. The gag order on the Qatar investigation is supposed to expire April 10th, but it could be extended as well.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in Israel, but one thing is for sure: the protests are back!
