JERUSALEM/ANKARA

The Israeli police late Monday suppressed an anti-government rally in Tel Aviv, central Israel, demanding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down.

According to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth, thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv’s Habima Square Monday night and demanded Netanyahu's resignation following what the chief of the domestic security service (Shin Bet) Ronen Bar, had revealed that Netanyahu sought to use Shin Bet against activists opposed to him.

The newspaper added that the protesters were raising banners and chanting for the protection of Israel's democracy and the release of Israeli captives held in Gaza.

It noted that when the rally began to march from Habima toward the Ayalon Highway, the police dispersed the protesters and arrested at least two protesters.

Footage on social media accounts showed policemen on horseback hitting protesters to disperse the rally and vacate the road.

At the rally, Yair Golan, The Democrats party leader, called for probing Netanyahu over what Bar revealed.

Golan further said that Netanyahu sought to use the Shin Bet “against political opponents, against protests, against citizens who came out to defend democracy.”

He branded him “a failed prime minister in terms of security and politics, legally entangled up to his neck” and leading an “anarchist government” that amounts to “a de facto coup d'etat.”

On Monday morning, Bar submitted an eight-page letter to the Supreme Court condemning Netanyahu, who decided to dismiss him in March, confirming recent leaks about the prime minister’s behavior with the Shin Bet, local media reported.

Bar said Netanyahu instructed him to obey the prime minister over the Supreme Court in a constitutional crisis and to deploy the Shin Bet against anti-government protesters, a request Bar deemed “illegal.”

Netanyahu’s office, in a statement, dismissed Bar’s letter as “full of lies” and evidence of his “utter failure” during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction preventing the government from dismissing Bar, announcing a replacement, or issuing instructions to officials under his authority. The order was issued after reviewing petitions submitted by the opposition against his dismissal.

On March 20, the Israeli government approved the dismissal of the Shin Bet chief, and the decision was scheduled to take effect on April 10.

However, on March 21, the Supreme Court froze the government's decision to dismiss Bar, pending the review of petitions submitted by the opposition against his dismissal.

Netanyahu justified Bar's dismissal by citing a “lack of trust” in him as a result of the repercussions of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. Bar, however, hinted at political motives behind the prime minister's decision, stating that it was due to his refusal to meet Netanyahu's demands for “personal loyalty.”

The Israeli army resumed its deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip on March 18, abandoning a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold in January.

Israel has killed more than 51,200 Palestinians in the enclave since October 2023, most of them women and children.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.