The Israeli cabinet is about to vote to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar. The Shin Bet is not only responsible for guaranteeing the security of Israeli citizens, it is responsible—by law—for protecting the institutions of Israeli democracy. And while the Shin Bet has historically also endangered civil liberties in Israel, Ronen Bar is still one of the only gatekeepers left who can stand up to Netanyahu.
As our Israeli colleagues wrote when Prime Minister Netanyahu announced the intent to fire him: “the Israeli government has declared war on its citizens.” And while “the main casualties will be Gazans, this renewed war is first and foremost against the state, the people who live in it, its institutions, and its values.”
The decision to hold the cabinet meeting today, March 20, 2025, to discuss firing Bar meant postponing another cabinet discussion—one that would address the fate of the hostages in Gaza. This makes the government’s priorities nothing if not clear: They are more interested in dismantling the checks on government and consolidating their own power than they are returning their own citizens alive from Gaza.
But when the chips are down, as they are in Israel right now, NIF’s task is crystal clear. As supporters of progressive civil society and believers in democracy, the balance of powers, and political competition—as opposed to pure fealty and cronyism—we stand with the protestors. We stand with those who refuse to bow to Netanyahu. We stand with those who oppose, who fight back, and who insist on a path towards peace, equality, and a shared future for Jews and Arabs.
And we can win.
Serbian people have been on the streets for months protesting their populist government’s moves. Yesterday they got their prime minister to resign. Greek people generated a mass protest about a month ago and forced their parliament to establish a committee of inquiry (a demand of many of Israel’s protestors as well). Turkish people were in the streets yesterday to oppose the false arrest of Turkish President Erdogan’s main political opponent. Time will tell what happens there, but what is clear is that time and again, protests work, especially when they combine other protest tools besides demonstrations like strikes, boycotts, and civil disobedience. According to populism expert Yonatan Levi, who spoke with NIF’s board just last month, this can be true in Israel too.
Levi wrote on X that, “In general, in resisting democratic erosion, the name of the game is slowing down processes and preparing for elections: on the one hand, a containment effort that will slow down the process of eliminating democracy as much as possible; on the other hand, an electoral effort aimed at organizing, at all levels, as early as possible, in preparation for the first elections in which the populist government can be replaced.” Let us take hope. 40,000 Israelis came out into the streets yesterday to protest the dismissal of Ronen Bar, and many more today. We stand with them.