Back to the Streets
Friday March 21, 2025 – כ״א אַדָר תשפ”ה
For many Israelis who are striving to save Israeli democracy, this past Wednesday brought back “nostalgic” feelings of the pre-October 7th reality. Coming in droves by train to the nation’s capital, they carried signs and banners. They revived familiar chants about democracy, the balance of power, and the threat that the Prime Minister’s recent actions pose to Israeli democracy and the safety and security of all those between the river and the sea.
Our Reform Movement came out in force, emphasizing the fact that Reform sees Israel’s democratic and Jewish character as inextricably linked. While they held signs championing “DEMOCRACY IN THE NAME OF JUDAISM,” they also held signs with two simple words “VOTE REFORM”. In this moment of deep crisis, our Reform Movement leaders are calling out to us here in the United States to support them in the struggle for Israel as a Jewish and Democratic State. They ask us to do one simple step and Vote Reform (#3) in the World Zionist Congress elections. It may be hard to realize that we can have an impact.
The premise for the protests came after a string of highly controversial moves by Prime Minister Netanyahu.
First, on Sunday evening, he fired Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. The Shin Bet is Israel’s equivalent to the FBI, and its leader, Ronen Bar, has served as a critical defense establishment figure throughout the war and as one of Israel’s lead negotiators in working for hostage release and ceasefire agreements.
Second, Netanyahu signed a return agreement with the extremist Kahanist party and its leader, Itamar Ben Gvir, who had left the government in protest over the ceasefire deal. With Ben Gvir back in power and the budget deliberations nearing their March 31 deadline, it is hard to see the PM’s actions as unconnected to his political issues. Ben Gvir’s return also led to a clear escalation in police violence and brutality towards protesters. One protester asked one of the officers to identify himself, as he had no name tag and his face was covered, but the officer refused. “They were completely unrestrained,” he said. “The officer told me, ‘You want me to identify myself? I don’t give a f***ing damn about you. Ben-Gvir is back, you’re all done.'”
Third, the resumption of war. Throughout the week, Israel carried out intense bombing attacks in Gaza, which successfully eliminated several high-ranking Hamas leaders and are said to have killed over 700 Palestinians.
At the beginning of the hostage return deal and ceasefire, many were skeptical whether the deal was ever going to reach Phase II. The pressure from Israel’s extremists to resume the war was too great and there was little pushback from Washington.
It is abundantly clear that more war is not what the people of Gaza want nor what the people of Israel want. Gazans cannot control or restrain Hamas, who seem to be gaining in strength, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has largely ignored the preferences of the Israeli public. Polls consistently show that some 70 percent of Israelis want the negotiated arrangement to continue until all of the hostages are free, even if that means releasing many convicted terrorists and ending the war without the complete eradication of Hamas.
Freed hostages Sasha Troufanov, Yarden Bibas, Iair Horn, and Keith Siegel, who were all returned to Israel during the most recent ceasefire, appeared Tuesday evening at Hostages Square in a desperate appeal to bring home the remaining captives, some of whom they were held with and left behind when they were freed.
Earlier Tuesday, Bibas shared a post on social media saying that he was “petrified” for his friends left in Gaza, and that news of the resumption of fighting triggered flashbacks to his captivity.
“Israel’s decision to return to fighting brings me back to Gaza,” he wrote, “to the moments where I heard the sounds of explosions around me and where I feared for my life as I was afraid that the tunnel where I was being held would collapse.” “My wife and children were kidnapped alive and were brutally murdered in captivity. The military pressure endangers the hostages while an agreement brings them home.”
The firing of Ronen Bar – in clear defiance of the recommendation of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, whose job is also in the crosshairs and who also serves as legal advisor and gatekeeper on preserving checks and balances on the Prime Minister – was regarded as a move that could no longer be tolerated.
Why was he fired?
There is much speculation around this question despite the fact that he was one of the now few responsible adults in the room, putting the needs of the country, the hostages, and their families above politics. Yossi Melman reported in Haaretz that Bar’s investigations on what is known as “Qatar-gate” were getting a bit too close. The head of the Shin Bet carries a unique status. He reports to the Prime Minister, who has the prerogative to dismiss him. However, this has never occurred in Israel’s history.
Additionally, the Shin Bet has the authority to investigate the PM and anyone else suspected of illegal activity. The Qatar-gate scandal in which close aides of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while serving in the prime minister’s office, allegedly received funding from Qatar to promote its image, has the potential to bring treasonous accusations to the highest officeholders. In short, Bar (along with the police) was getting too close, and his dismissal raises suspicions that it was done with intent to obstruct the investigation out of fear that it might implicate Netanyahu as well. This is more scandalous than anything else for which Netanyahu has been accused.
Netanyahu’s office announced Thursday that it would hold a vote on firing Bar at 9:30 p.m., defying the attorney general, who says such a move contravenes protocol, and infuriated the hostage families who saw this move taking priority over the fate of the 59 hostages still in Gaza, 24 of whom are reported to be alive.
MK Rabbi Gilad Kariv summed up the situation succinctly:
“Hamas terrorists must be eliminated, and Israel must act against the renewed organization of Hamas.
However, a government that prioritizes Israel’s security does not return to intense fighting while firing the head of the Shin Bet and aggressively passing legislation that divides the nation. Above all, it does not do so while continuing to abandon our brothers and sisters who are hostages, left abandoned for 529 days.
Another round of destruction and casualties won’t bring back the hostages, nor will it topple Hamas rule. The hostages will only be returned through a deal. Hamas’ rule will only be eradicated through a combination of military actions and political initiatives.
We must not stay silent while the government abandons the hostages, raises its hand against democracy once again, plunders the public coffers, and manages national security policy based on political considerations and continued addiction to Kahanists.
Netanyahu is concerned about the protests led by hostage families and the protests against undemocratic actions, because he knows there is no majority in favor of abandoning the hostages and there is a majority in favor of a regime change.
It is our duty to demonstrate in the streets. For the hostages. For the future of us all.”
While Israel is at war, and the growing tensions and pressure, both internally and externally, are significant, we, as American Jews, can lend our support and show our Movement in Israel that we are behind them. We can do that with our words and our pocketbooks, but now we face a critical test. Israel’s leaders are watching closely to see who is going to emerge as the predominant voice of American Jewry. If you are concerned by everything that happened this week – for the fate of the hostages, innocent Palestinians, and the future of Israeli democracy, then we ask you and everyone you know to take 5 minutes and $5 dollars and Vote Reform in the World Zionist Congress elections.
The future is too important to sit this one out.
Shabbat Shalom.