Benjamin Netanyahu Protests Reignite Political Divisions in Israel

Six months later, following the 7 October attacks by Hamas, thousands of protesters are once again on Israel's streets.

The war has turbocharged their desire to unseat Israel's longest-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Long-standing chants urging his resignation and prompt elections gained momentum alongside fresh demands for an urgent agreement to secure the release of approximately 130 Israeli hostages remaining captive in Gaza. The fate of an undisclosed number among them is feared to be fatal.

The prevailing anxiety among the hostages' loved ones and demonstrators is that prolonged conflict without a resolution will lead to more casualties.

Amidst the crowded streets surrounding the Israeli parliament on Sunday evening, Katia Amorza, whose son is deployed in the Israeli army in Gaza, momentarily set aside her megaphone.

"Since eight this morning, I'm here. And now I'm telling Netanyahu that I would be glad to pay one way ticket, first class, for him to go out and not come back anymore."

A rabbi crossed the road past Katia and her megaphone. It was Yehudah Glick, who campaigns for Jewish prayer in the area Israelis call the Temple Mount, the site in Jerusalem of Islam's third holiest mosque, al Aqsa.

Rabbi Glick said the protesters have forgotten that their real enemy is Hamas, not prime minister Netanyahu.

"I think he's very popular. And that's what aggravates these people. I think these people, are not willing to forgive the fact that for so long they've been demonstrating against him and he's still in power.

"And I'm calling upon them to demonstrate, to come and demonstrate, speak loud and clear what they feel, but to be careful not to cross the very thin line between democracy and anarchy."

The demonstrators and critics of Mr. Netanyahu in supportive nations are of the belief that elements opposed to democracy are already present within his government, which relies on backing from ultranationalist Jewish factions.

Among these factions is the Religious Zionism party, headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. According to one of its members, Ohad Tal, entertaining any notion other than escalating military pressure on Hamas to secure the hostages would be naive.

"You don't think Hamas will bring back so easily the hostages in a deal, release everybody and then will allow us to, you know, to kill all the terrorists that we would release in such a deal...It's not as simple.

"If there was a button that you can press and bring back all the hostages and make everything okay, every Israeli would press this button. But it's not as easy as you may think."

Benjamin Netanyahu used to say he was the only one who could keep his country safe. Many Israelis believed him.

Many Israelis hold him responsible for the security lapses that allowed Hamas to attack Israel with such devastating effect.

Unlike his security chiefs, who rapidly issued statements admitting they had made mistakes, Mr Netanyahu has never admitted any responsibility.

That infuriates the thousands who blocked streets in Jerusalem on Sunday evening.

Israelis must be something like 40 years old at least to remember a time when Benjamin Netanyahu was not a dominant figure in their country's politics.

After emerging as an eloquent spokesman for Israel at the United Nations, his first stint as prime minister came after a narrow victory in 1996 on a platform opposing the Oslo peace process.

Like the current American plan to make peace in the Middle East, the Oslo deals were built around the idea that allowing Palestinians to establish an independent state alongside Israel was the only hope of ending a century of conflict between Arabs and Jews over control of the land between the river Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea.

Mr Netanyahu has been a consistent opponent of a Palestinian state. He has contemptuously dismissed the US strategy of backing for Palestinian independence as part of a "grand bargain" to remake the Middle East.

His critics here say his strident rejection of President Joe Biden's plans for governance in Gaza after the war is a tool to secure the continued support of Israel's extreme right wing.

One of the protesters outside the Knesset was David Agmon, a retired Brigadier General in the Israeli army. He ran the prime minister's office when Mr Netanyahu was first elected.

"It's the biggest crisis ever since 1948. I'll tell you something else. I was the first chief of staff for Netanyahu in 1996, so I know him, and after three months I decided to leave. Because I realised who he is - a danger to Israel.

"He doesn't know how to take decisions, he is afraid, the only thing he knows is to speak. And of course, I saw he depends on his wife, and I saw his lies. And after three months I told him, Bibi, you don't need aides, you need a replacement. And I left."