TEL AVIV, March 23, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Israel's opposition leader on Saturday called for a general strike if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu refuses to obey a Supreme Court decision freezing the government's dismissal of the internal security chief.

If the government "decides to disobey the Court's decision it will become a government outside of the law," Yair Lapid told thousands of demonstrators in central Tel Aviv.

"If that happens, the entire country should stop," he said. "The only system that must not stop is the security system."

The unprecedented move to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar has deepened divisions in the country as Israel resumes its military operations in the Gaza Strip.

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said on Friday that Netanyahu could not name a replacement for Bar, following the Supreme Court decision.

Netanyahu insisted, in a post on X, that it was up to the government to decide who headed the domestic security agency.

"There will be no civil war! The State of Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the government of Israel decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet," the prime minister said.

He reiterated that view in a video message Saturday as the Tel Aviv protest was under way.

"Ronen Bar will not stay as head of Shin Bet," he said. "There will not be civil war, and Israel will remain a democratic state."

- 'Flagrant conflict of interest' -

Demonstrators have spoken of Netanyahu's policies, including the firing of Bar, as a threat to Israel's democracy.

Lapid spoke at an anti-government rally where demonstrators held signs protesting the war in the Gaza Strip and calling for hostages held there to be freed.

Signs read "No more bloodshed" and "Stop the war, Now!" to ensure the return of the 58 hostages captured on October 7, 2023 and still held in Gaza.

In front of the defence ministry headquarters, Menahem Begin Street was packed from Kaplan Street to King Saul Street, an AFP photographer observed, suggesting a crowd of several tens of thousands of people, a very significant mobilization on a national scale.

Lapid's party Yesh Atid, which appealed Bar's firing to the Supreme Court, denounced the government move to sack Bar as "a decision based on flagrant conflict of interest".

The government is to meet on Sunday to begin dismissal proceedings against the attorney general, a vocal Netanyahu critic, citing "prolonged disagreements".

A demonstration against her removal is scheduled for Sunday outside parliament, and near Netanyahu's Jerusalem residence.