What Happened
Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power in December 2022, assembling a coalition immediately described by major international media as the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. More than three years later, two of the politicians most closely associated with that shift remain central figures within his administration: Itamar Ben-Gvir, serving as National Security Minister, and Bezalel Smotrich, who holds the Finance portfolio while exerting significant influence over policy affecting the occupied West Bank.
The question raised by this headline goes one step further than a simple political label. Is this simply Israel’s most extreme government, or has its conduct reached a point where observers consider it evil? That final word is a moral judgement and cannot be presented as an objective fact. However, the policies, statements, and actions behind the debate are very real, generating international consequences and deepening domestic fractures.
The coalition has taken strongly nationalist positions on Israeli sovereignty, settlements, and Palestinian statehood while repeatedly clashing with critics at home and abroad. When Netanyahu assembled his government following the 2022 election, he depended heavily on nationalist religious and far-right parties to secure a parliamentary majority. This gave politicians who had once been considered figures on the margins of Israeli politics unprecedented influence inside government.
Their rise represented more than a change of personalities; it marked a significant shift in the political direction of the Israeli state. Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party opposes the establishment of a Palestinian state, and he has used his position to advance settlement expansion. Ben-Gvir has become one of the coalition’s most uncompromising political voices, repeatedly demanding tougher Israeli policies toward Palestinians.
In June 2025, Australia imposed targeted financial sanctions and travel bans on both men. The Australian government listed them under its human-rights sanctions framework alongside the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Norway. The five governments stated the measures were connected to incitement of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank and extremist rhetoric concerning Palestinians and settlement expansion. Israel rejected the accusations and strongly criticised the sanctions.
The Timeline
Before now, no Israeli government had fired the director of Israel’s domestic spy agency. The push to replace Ronen Bar started after his agency began investigating members of Netanyahu’s staff accused of improperly accepting influence payments from Qatar. This investigation tainted Netanyahu’s attempt to remove Bar with allegations of conflict of interest.
The Israeli government approved Netanyahu’s proposal to reappoint Itamar Ben-Gvir as minister of national security on Wednesday, 19 March 2025. Yet the tension between the Prime Minister and his intelligence leadership has escalated dramatically. The Israeli prime minister says the nation’s security cabinet will vote to dismiss the top spy after an extraordinary breakdown between the pair.
This week, Bar wrote a letter to cabinet ministers directly linking his dismissal to the investigation into the prime minister’s office. “Significant investigative steps are underway, and disrupting them through a sudden and rushed dismissal — based on entirely baseless claims — reeks of foreign interests and an unprecedented conflict of interest,” he wrote.
The suggestion that Section 7a of the Basic Law on the Knesset could be applied to Netanyahu after his attempts to overhaul the judiciary and sack senior public servants has added to the tension between him and the agency. That law allows the Shin Bet to disallow someone from the Knesset if they, in “words or deeds threaten the essence of Israeli democracy”.
Netanyahu is facing charges of fraud, bribery and breach of trust in three cases. Because he is still on trial for corruption charges, he is barred by a conflict of interest agreement from participating in any decisions regarding the judicial system and law enforcement in general. Technically, he is not involved in the process to dismiss the attorney-general, which is being initiated by the justice minister.
Israelis nevertheless suspect the dismissal is being done at Netanyahu’s behest, or at the very least for his benefit. Legal scholars say it could still breach the conflict of interest agreement. The justice minister is refusing to recognise the election of a new chief justice and refuses to fill three vacancies on the court’s bench.
Who Said What
Former chief justice, the highly respected Aharon Barak, told Israel’s channel 12 this week: “Israel is very close to civil war.” Constitutional law professor Suzie Navot, from the Israel Democracy Institute, wrote: “The red flags could not be bigger — those keen on protecting the security and democracy of the state of Israel should heed the warning.”
Netanyahu has since alleged Bar was blackmailing him and making “mafia-style criminal threats”. The attorney-general is also responsible for prosecuting elected officials, including — at the moment — Netanyahu. Her role is to both defend the government and oppose any actions considered illegal.
She has fallen foul of the government by opposing the dismissal of Bar and other actions by Netanyahu, such as elements of his government’s controversial changes to the judicial system, the appointment of convicted criminal Aryeh Deri to cabinet and interference by the national security minister in police investigations.
Netanyahu’s former aide Eli Feldstein (also a former spokesman for National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir) has been charged with illegally leaking classified information to a German newspaper. Meanwhile, since the start of this week, the Israeli government has used every one of its platforms to denounce the activists on board the Global Sumud Flotilla as “provocateurs” engaging in a stunt.
“The days of our country being a punching bag are over,” Ben-Gvir told the Israeli parliament hours after the video was posted and the outcry began. Supporters of the government argue that the security environment following the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks demonstrated that Israel cannot afford to take risks with its security.
Why This Matters
The attempt to remove Bar also came after his agency began investigating members of Netanyahu’s staff. Some members of Israel’s security establishment say that Hamas read the protracted infighting over the plan as weakness and that it was a factor in the group’s decision to launch its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel when it did.
The government’s breaking of the ceasefire on March 18 coincided with a scheduled appearance by Netanyahu in court for his long-running corruption trial. He was due to testify but requested the hearing be cancelled because of the resumption of fighting. The trial is in its fifth year and lawyers say the prime minister’s testimony could take another 12 months to complete.
Netanyahu has disregarded public sentiment in restarting Israel’s campaign in Gaza, especially regarding the freeing of the 24 remaining living hostages, which was due to occur in the second phase of the deal. “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,” Netanyahu posted on X this week.
That tension has again become visible as Israel approaches its October 2026 election. The description of the government as extreme has been used repeatedly since the coalition was established in December 2022. The conduct of the administration, from the dismissal of a domestic spy to the reappointment of Ben-Gvir despite his controversial record, suggests a consolidation of power that critics argue undermines democratic norms.
What Is Still Unclear
We had 40 people who have broken ribs, 12 sexual assaults, people who were tasered in the face, people who were syringed with unknown sedatives. These figures refer to the victims of the flotilla activists’ treatment, highlighting the severity of the government’s rhetoric versus its actions.
While the legal mechanisms for dismissing Bar are technically separate from Netanyahu’s trial due to conflict-of-interest rules, the perception remains that the move serves his interests. The justice minister is refusing to fill three vacancies on the court’s bench and refuses to recognise the election of a new chief justice.
The government claims it must comply with international concerns and international law, yet it simultaneously faces sanctions from five nations for incitement and settlement expansion policies. The extent to which these internal conflicts will escalate into open civil unrest remains a critical variable as the nation approaches its next election cycle.