Since Benjamin Netanyahu returned as Israel’s prime minister in 2022, the nation’s unelected bureaucratic apparatus has tried to remove him from power or hamstring his ability to get anything done. As the nation continues to war against Hamas and other radical terrorist groups, an internal war is being fought between conservatives and the liberal establishment.

This war contributed to Israel’s lax security in 2023, with soldiers openly refusing to fight and intelligence agents taking part in protests. This distracted Israel’s security apparatus from terrorist threats, allowing Hamas terrorists to massacre around 1,200 Israelis on Oct. 7, 2023.

This internal war was paused immediately after Hamas launched its invasion. But it has resumed—and Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to be winning.

Shin Bet

On March 20, Israel’s cabinet unanimously voted to fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. Shin Bet is Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, comparable to the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation; it has jurisdiction over threats from the Palestinian territories, including Gaza. Bar was appointed by the previous government in 2021.

Bar was in charge when the security failure of Oct. 7, 2023, happened. An internal investigation at Shin Bet on what went wrong revealed that the agency had received Hamas battle plans in 2018 and 2022 that mirrored the October 7 attack, but it hadn’t taken them seriously. Thus the entire country was blindsided by the attack.

Netanyahu said there was an “ongoing lack of trust” between himself and Bar. On March 26, Netanyahu claimed that Bar knew several hours ahead of time that Hamas was going to launch its October 7 attack but refused to tell the prime minister. “This is a fact and not a conspiracy,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office.

Leading up to the massacre, Israel was in the midst of a massive protest movement against Netanyahu’s judicial reform program. Leaked files in April 2023 suggest Mossad, Israel’s external intelligence agency, supported the protests. Did Shin Bet also support the protests?

Netanyahu has yet to pick a successor for Bar, but Bar is still set to lose his job later this month.

Attorney General’s Office

Next to go is Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara. On March 23, the cabinet passed a no-confidence vote against her. Another appointee of the previous government, she has been one of the leading voices in the campaign against Netanyahu.

In other Western democracies, the attorney general (AG) serves as an instrument of the executive government. But in Israel, the attorney general’s office is an independent agency that often acts as a de facto monitor against the government. The AG can give injunctions stopping the government from enacting policy—often not on the basis of any laws but on the AG’s personal preferences. Baharav-Miara has used this privilege extensively.

Unlike Shin Bet, the AG’s office is not directly under the government’s control. Baharav-Miara claims the cabinet vote was outside the formal process and isn’t legally binding. Whether there is anything she can do to remain in office remains to be seen. But if the government gets its way, together with Bar, it would have removed two of the biggest obstacles for the government carrying out its agenda.

On March 27, they started removing a third.

Judicial Selection Committee

The Knesset (Israel’s parliament) passed a law altering the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee. The law passed 67-1, with 52 abstentions. Israel’s Supreme Court—another institution that regularly sends injunctions against the government because of personal bias—receives appointees through a nine-member committee. The government has minority representation in the committee. Supreme Court justices and members of the Israel Bar Association comprise the majority. This has turned the Supreme Court into a self-selecting technocracy. The new law replaces the two members of the Israel Bar Association with two public representatives.

This law won’t go into force until 2026 and would still leave the government with a minority in the Committee. It is also watered-down compared to Netanyahu’s original program. Yet the opposition filed an unprecedented 71,023 objections to the bill—all overruled.

Before October 7, Netanyahu’s main policy goal was to strip the Supreme Court of its nonjudicial power. Many Israelis protested, pressuring him to back down. Although a small step, this bill is still a significant victory.

Bitter Affliction

The Trumpet has long covered the anti-Netanyahu establishment’s crusade against the prime minister. A prophecy in 2 Kings 14:26-28 shows that the State of Israel, along with other Israelite nations, will suffer “bitter affliction.” Without God’s intervention, the name of Israel would be “blotted out from under heaven.” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains this prophecy in detail in his free book America Under Attack.

The near-constant attacks against Prime Minister Netanyahu by Israel’s radical establishment plays a huge part in this attack. Although the attacks continue, for the first time in years, Netanyahu is seeing some success in fighting off the attacks.

Mr. Flurry ties America’s relief from this bitter affliction to the reelection of U.S. President Donald Trump. America experienced a similar top-down attack, and Mr. Trump is putting an end to it.

The Trumpet expects a similar political resurgence for Israel. Netanyahu’s recent successes may play a critical part in this.

We wrote in our January 2023 Trumpet issue, after Netanyahu’s reelection:

Trump and Netanyahu worked together during the president’s first term. And since President Trump is prophesied to return to office, was it God’s will also that Mr. Netanyahu would once again lead the Jewish state?

The closeness of the Israeli election compared to how massive the gain in power was for Netanyahu shows how God’s hand can influence the outcomes of elections, even in a fractious and divided country such as Israel or the United States. And as the Bible links America and Israel in a special way, is Netanyahu’s election a harbinger of things to come in the United States? Indeed, this is exactly what God prophesies will happen.

We are starting to see the new governments in the U.S. and Israel purge much of their “bitter affliction.” But it is critical you understand why God is allowing this to happen.

These prophesied resurgences for America and Israel are not destined to last forever. How long they last is determined by how the people respond. Learn more by reading our article “Bibi Is Back.”