Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel convened his cabinet late Thursday to approve the ouster of the head of the Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency, a move that has further roiled a deeply divided country still at war.
But in a stark challenge to Mr. Netanyahu, the Shin Bet chief, Ronen Bar, refused to attend the nighttime meeting over his dismissal. Instead, he sent a stinging letter addressed to the government stating that the process was illegal and that the prime minister’s motives were “fundamentally flawed.”
The attempt to fire Mr. Bar is likely to be contested in the country’s Supreme Court.
The clash comes just days after Mr. Netanyahu announced his intention to fire Mr. Bar, citing a lack of personal trust between them, prompting street protests in Jerusalem.
It also comes after Israel’s military resumed a deadly campaign in Gaza that has raised concern among many Israelis about the fates of hostages still held in the enclave. Sirens warning of incoming rocket fire from Gaza sent Israelis in the Tel Aviv area running for cover on Thursday for the first time in months.
The Shin Bet is deeply involved in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, providing intelligence and targets. By law, the agency is also tasked with protecting Israeli democracy.
In his letter, Mr. Bar rejected the idea that any lack of personal trust between himself and Mr. Netanyahu had affected the work of the agency, and he said that the prime minister had not presented any concrete examples that would justify his dismissal or allow him to contest it in a proper hearing.
Mr. Bar also suggested that the hasty attempt to oust him was intended to undermine “serious cases that the Shin Bet is investigating at this time.” For months, Mr. Bar had angered Mr. Netanyahu by investigating officials in the prime minister’s office over claims of leaked documents and work for people connected to Qatar. Mr. Netanyahu has denied any wrongdoing.
The discord between Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Bar goes to the heart of a broader battle playing out over the nature and future of Israel’s democracy and the rule of law. Critics of Mr. Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in Israel’s history, accuse it of working to reduce the authority of independent state watchdogs and to remove checks and balances on the powers of the government, which holds a narrow majority in Parliament.
The plan to fire Mr. Bar on grounds of personal trust has also raised public concerns that future appointments may be based primarily on loyalty to the prime minister.
Thousands protested in Jerusalem on Wednesday in anticipation of the move, and more protests took place on Thursday. By lunchtime, a long column of academics had marched in stormy weather from a campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem toward one of Mr. Netanyahu’s private residences, beating on drums, chanting, “Democracy!” and scuffling with police officers after trying to break through a barricade.
Some prominent opposition figures joined the demonstrators. Video footage from the scene showed police officers aggressively pushing protesters, including Yair Golan, a former deputy chief of the military and now the leader of the center-left Democrats party, who ended up on the ground. The police used a water cannon and sprayed protesters with a foul-smelling liquid in an effort to disperse them.
The new protests recall weekly demonstrations in 2023 against attempts to overhaul the judiciary to reduce its power as a check on the government, with business leaders at one point joining labor unions to hold a national strike. Those protests came to an abrupt halt with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that ignited the war on Oct. 7, 2023, though the broad sense of national solidarity that prevailed then is now fraying.
Mr. Netanyahu and his allies have made accusations of overreach against the judiciary and other independent branches, saying that they have hampered the government’s freedom to make decisions and to represent the will of voters.
Mr. Netanyahu has been under police investigation and is on trial on charges of corruption, which he denies. He has repeatedly accused a liberal “deep state” of conducting a witch hunt against him and his family.
The Shin Bet is investigating officials in the prime minister’s office over claims that they had leaked secret documents to the media and also worked for people connected to Qatar, an Arab state close to Hamas. The investigation, called “Qatargate” in the local news media, is continuing in secrecy under a sweeping gag order.
Mr. Netanyahu has denied wrongdoing and his office has dismissed the episode as “fake news.” The Qatari government did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Bar, who has led the Shin Bet since 2021, said in an earlier public statement that the expectation of “personal trust” was in opposition to the public interest.
Mr. Bar and the Shin Bet have taken responsibility for their part in the intelligence failure that led to the Hamas-led attack, which resulted in the deadliest single day for Israelis since the foundation of their state in 1948.
But in a summary of the agency’s internal probe into its conduct issued earlier this month, the Shin Bet also pointed to years of lenient government policy toward Hamas and Gaza as a major contributing factor, likely angering Mr. Netanyahu.
Appearing emboldened domestically, as well as in Gaza, by the staunch support of the U.S. administration, Mr. Netanyahu made common cause with President Trump in a blunt social media post late Wednesday.
“In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will,” he wrote. “They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together.”
The billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Mr. Trump, replied with a red “100” emoji, suggesting that he agreed with Mr. Netanyahu.
Many Israelis view the country’s democracy as increasingly fragile. Israel has no formal written constitution, only one legislative chamber and a president whose role is mostly ceremonial and symbolic.
The current president, Isaac Herzog, issued a video statement on Thursday in which he warned against unilateral actions that he said could harm Israel’s social cohesion and resilience.
Mr. Herzog did not specifically mention the government or the ousting of Mr. Bar, but referring to new call-up notices sent to thousands of reserve soldiers, he said, “It is not possible to send our children to the front and at the same time to make controversial moves that deeply polarize the nation.”
By taking the vote straight to the government on Thursday, Mr. Netanyahu was also defying a legal opinion of the attorney general, Gali Baharav-Miara, who advised that the dismissal of Mr. Bar must first be approved by an advisory committee that oversees senior appointments.
Ms. Baharav-Miara, who was appointed by the previous government, has frequently clashed with the current one. Prominent members of Mr. Netanyahu’s cabinet have said that after Mr. Bar’s removal, the attorney general will be the next.
Johnatan Reiss in Tel Aviv, Myra Noveck in Jerusalem and Rawan Sheikh Ahmad in Haifa, Israel, contributed reporting.
