Wednesday marked the eighth day of consecutive protests in the capital, but with protests beginning to lose momentum, some people have started to question whether opposition parties are doing enough themselves to oppose government-led processes seen as undemocratic.
“You sit in the opposition, which means you are fighting the government for the public,” said the activist group Yalla Tikva, in a post on Instagram.
This sentiment has led protestors like Yalla Tikva to compare the actions of Israel’s opposition leaders with those in other countries, where they have taken more dramatic steps in response to government actions.
Israeli opposition parties have primarily relied on legal challenges rather than direct action. Opposition parties Yesh Atid, National Unity, Yisrael Beytenu, and The Democrats submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice on Friday demanding an injunction against the dismissal of Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency) chief Ronen Bar.
Opposition head MK Yair Lapid also addressed a protest in Tel Aviv’s Habima Theater square on Saturday evening. On Wednesday, opposition leaders are expected to join protestors outside the Knesset for the first time, according to Walla.
A handful of other opposition party members have been involved in the protests. MK Gilad Kariv was violently pushed by a policeman during a protest for the Gaza Hostages in Tel Aviv in February, after asking the police officer under what authority the officer was allowed to confiscate equipment from protesters.
However, it is questionable whether these actions have been substantial enough in comparison to the bolder actions taken by opposition members worldwide.
This has led some to call for opposition members to engage in non-violent direct action rather than just parliamentary action. Protesters have not called for opposition members to engage in violent activity, as the protest movement is defined by non-violence."
How opposition parties around the world have responded to crisis
Serbia
A few weeks ago, Serbian opposition lawmakers threw smoke grenades and used pepper spray inside parliament to protest against the government and to support demonstrating students.
Four months of student-led demonstrations, sparked by the deaths of 15 people when a railway station roof collapsed, have become a significant threat to President Aleksandar Vucic's decade-long rule, with many denouncing rampant corruption and incompetence in government.
At the legislative session, after the ruling coalition approved the agenda, some opposition politicians rushed towards the parliamentary speaker and scuffled with security guards.
Others tossed smoke grenades and used pepper spray, with a live TV broadcast showing black and pink smoke billowing inside the parliament.
Under Serbian law, parliamentary deputies enjoy immunity from prosecution unless they commit serious crimes.
South Korea
In December, when President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, which he said was necessary to defend the country from pro-North Korean anti-state forces, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) called for Yoon’s resignation and otherwise threatened impeachment.
"We couldn't ignore the illegal martial law," DP lawmaker Kim Yong-min told reporters. "We can no longer let democracy collapse." Within hours of the declaration, South Korea's parliament, with 190 of its 300 members present, unanimously passed a motion for martial law to be lifted.
The South Korean opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung, went so far as to jump over the fence of Parliament after the entrance was blocked off by the military. He live-streamed himself the whole time, in a video which went viral on X/Twitter.
While the situation in South Korea was vastly different from the current one in Israel, it is difficult to imagine an MK doing something similar in the current climate.
Turkey
Last week, protests erupted across Turkey after the Istanbul mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, a key opposition figure and potential challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained and later arrested.
Imamoglu faced charges including graft and aiding a terrorist group. His Republican People's Party (CHP), the main opposition, condemned the move as politically motivated and encouraged peaceful protests.
"Break down those barricades without harming the police, take to the streets and squares," said CHP leader Ozgur Ozel, who called the bans on demonstrations illegal, and urged people to demonstrate peacefully in defense of their voting rights.
On Sunday, the CHP announced Imamgolu as its presidential candidate for the next elections, and the party even allowed for non-party members to vote in order to boost public resistance.
In contrast to these dramatic actions abroad, Israel’s opposition has taken a more measured approach despite ongoing protests against the government’s recent controversial decisions.
The firing of Ronen Bar was also politically motivated; it was allegedly related to investigations into ties between Qatar and three of Netanyahu’s current or previous advisors. However, opposition leaders did not actively lead the public to engage in protest, as the opposition did in Turkey.
Nearly a thousand soldiers have lost their lives since Israel launched its invasion of Gaza in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, massacre by Hamas. Additionally, 16,000 soldiers have been wounded in fighting, and 59 hostages remain captive in Gaza. Amid this crisis, the Israeli government also fired Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, a move that sparked outrage.
It is notable that when 15 people die because of a roof collapsing, the opposition throws smoke grenades in Parliament, but when the Israeli government decides to resume fighting in Gaza and fires the Shin Bet chief, the opposition remains largely passive.
As protests continue, pressure is mounting for Israeli opposition leaders to take bolder action, or risk losing public support.
Eve young contributed to this report.