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Thousands Join Anti-government Rally in Jerusalem

The protest is the largest to take place in Jerusalem for several months - AFP
The protest is the largest to take place in Jerusalem for several months - AFP
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Thousands Join Anti-government Rally in Jerusalem

The protest is the largest to take place in Jerusalem for several months - AFP
The protest is the largest to take place in Jerusalem for several months - AFP

Thousands of protesters massed in Jerusalem on Wednesday, chanting slogans against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who they accuse of undermining democracy and resuming Gaza strikes without regard for hostages.

Protesters shouted "You are the head, and you're to blame" as well as "The blood is on your hands" at the demonstration near parliament, the largest to take place in Jerusalem for months, AFP reported.

The demonstration was organized by anti-Netanyahu opposition groups protesting the premier's move to sack Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency, AFP reported.

Following Netanyahu's announcement to dismiss Bar, which threatened to trigger political crisis, Israel launched a wave of overnight strikes on Gaza, by far the deadliest since the start of a fragile ceasefire in January.

Relatives of the Israeli hostages still held in Gaza joined the rally outside the parliament in Jerusalem.

"We hope all people from Israel will join this movement and we will not stop until we restore democracy and freedom for the hostages," said Zeev Berar, 68, from Tel Aviv.

"At this rate we won't have a country left, not a democratic one. It will be a dictatorship," student Roni Sharon, 18, told AFP.

Some in the crowd brandished banners reading: "We are all hostages".

Relatives of the hostages in the Gaza Strip have said the decision to resume strikes could "sacrifice" their loved ones.

Of the 251 hostages seized during the unprecedented October 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the war, 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

The demonstrators in Jerusalem also accuse Netanyahu of using the war against Hamas to distract from domestic political concerns.

The prime minister has so far refused to set up a national commission of inquiry into Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, while his bid to dismiss Bar threatened to plunge Israel back into deep political crisis.

Netanyahu's government recently also moved to oust Israel's attorney general and government judiciary adviser, Gali Baharav-Miara, a fierce defendant of the judiciary's independence.

A 2023 judicial reform project aimed at curbing the supreme court's powers fractured the country and sparked major protests -- before coming to an abrupt halt with Hamas's October 7 attack.

"The last two years have been a nightmare for us," said Yael Baron, 55, from the city of Modiin.

"I feel as though we are in the 99th minute and time is running out to save the country, the oxygen is running out for us, like democracy is running out."

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Arab World

Lebanese Officials, Palestinian President Agree on State Monopoly over Arms

This handout picture released by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office (PPO) shows President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam talking as they overlook Beirut on May 22, 2025. (PPO / AFP / Handout)
This handout picture released by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office (PPO) shows President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam talking as they overlook Beirut on May 22, 2025. (PPO / AFP / Handout)
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Lebanese Officials, Palestinian President Agree on State Monopoly over Arms

This handout picture released by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office (PPO) shows President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam talking as they overlook Beirut on May 22, 2025. (PPO / AFP / Handout)
This handout picture released by the Palestinian Authority's Press Office (PPO) shows President Mahmoud Abbas (L) and Lebanon's Prime Minister Nawaf Salam talking as they overlook Beirut on May 22, 2025. (PPO / AFP / Handout)

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas continued on Thursday his visit to Lebanon with agreements being reached that only the Lebanese state should have monopoly over the possession of weapons, effectively ending the proliferation of Palestinian arms in the country.

Abbas held separate meetings with Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday. The visit, his first to Lebanon since 2017, aims to resolve the issue of Palestinian weapons in refugee camps as the Lebanese state seeks to impose its authority throughout its territories.

The hour-long meeting with Berri tackled the general situation in Lebanon and the region as “Israel continues its aggression against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank,” said a parliament statement. They also covered Lebanese-Palestinian relations.

Lebanese parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, right, shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of a meeting in Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP)

At the government palace, Abbas held a bilateral meeting with Salam, and later a security meeting attended by Lebanese and Palestinian officials.

A statement from Salam’s office said discussions focused on “ongoing efforts to bolster Lebanon’s stability and security and ensure that the sovereignty of the Lebanese state is respected throughout its territories, including in the Palestinian refugee camps.”

Salam and Abbas agreed that the Palestinians in Lebanon “are guests and they should commit to the decisions of the Lebanese state.” They rejected attempts to naturalize the Palestinians, underlining their right to return to their homeland.

They agreed “to end all forms of armed presence outside the authority of the state and completely put an end to the issue of Palestinian weapons outside or inside the camps, so that the state can have monopoly over arms.”

An agreement was reached to form a joint executive committee to implement these agreements, said the statement.

Salam and Abbas also underscored “the importance of joint work to address the rights and social issues related to the Palestinian refugees, so that their humanitarian conditions are improved while state sovereignty is respected.”

On Gaza, they called for an end to Israel’s war and rejected attempts to displace the Palestinian people. They reiterated support to the two-state solution, saying it would fairly and comprehensively resolve the conflict in the region. They urged the implementation of relevant international resolutions and the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that would ensure the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Lebanese sources confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat the formation of the joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee that would handle the issue of Palestinian weapons in Lebanon. It will hold its first meeting on Friday.

The sources said it will be comprised of Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee chief Ramez Dimechkie, Lebanese General Security chief Hassan Choucair, Lebanese Army Intelligence chief Brigadier General Tony Kahwaji, Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Azzam al-Ahmed, Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon Ashraf Dabbour, and Secretary of Fatah and PLO factions in Lebanon Fathi Abu al-Ardat.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (R) signs a guest book as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun looks on at the presidential palace in Baabda, near Beirut, Lebanon, 21 May 2025. (EPA)

Salam confirmed Friday's meeting in a post on the X platform. He said it will discuss “setting a clear timeframe for the implementation of the mechanism to limit the possession of weapons to the state, including arms inside the camps. It will also discuss the civil rights of Palestinians in Lebanon.”

“These weapons no longer help achieve the rights of the Palestinian people, but they are a danger because they could be used to stir intra-Palestinian or Palestinian-Lebanese strife,” he warned.

“The strength of the Palestinian cause does not lie in the weapons inside the Palestinian camps in Lebanon, but in the rising number of countries that recognize a Palestinian state and hundreds of thousands of people demonstrating across the world in solidarity with the Palestinians and Gaza,” Salam stressed.

Abbas had kicked of his three-day visit to Lebanon on Wednesday with a meeting with President Joseph Aoun.

He had declared to Aoun that the Palestinians in Lebanon “will not operate outside of Lebanese law. They are temporary guests and have no desire, opinion or stance that supports the carrying of weapons.”

Leading member of the Progressive Socialist Party Toufic Sultan described Abbas and Aoun’s meeting as “historic”.

Speaking at a press conference, he added: “We have waited long for the Palestinian presence and their weapons to be put on the table. It has long been a dream for Lebanon to be devoid of weapons. Gone are the days of a state within a state.”