Israeli Prime Minister Beniamin Netanyahu has announced that he will temporarily freeze his government’s controversial plans to reform the judicial system, after a long day of mass demonstrations across the country and an unprecedented general strike.
In a public appearance on Monday afternoon that had been delayed since morning hours, Netanyahu said that “I am going to take time for dialogue” and that “I will turn every stone to find a solution.” On the mass protests, the prime minister stated that “there is an extremist minority willing to divide our nation”, while he is not “willing to tear the nation to pieces”.
The Minister of National Security, the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir, agreed today with Netanyahu to delay the processing of the judicial reform for several months, but not to suspend it definitively, reported his party, Jewish Power. The far-right minister, who until now was the member of the government most reluctant to pause that legislation despite the massive protests, said that he has agreed to “an extension until the next session to approve the reform through negotiations,” reported his training in a statement.
The next session will begin in May, after the Jewish Passover recess, and will last until July, thus giving the government three months to continue negotiating with the opposition.
Jewish Power, a party that is part of the government coalition, indicated that in exchange for this concession, Netanyahu guaranteed Ben Gvir the imminent approval at the next cabinet meeting of a National Guard under the command of his ministry, one of his demands for some time. months.
This announcement comes after a long day of demonstrations throughout the country and the call for a general workers’ strike, within the framework of a historic protest movement that began three months ago.
Throughout the day, according to local media, the president held negotiations with members of his Executive in order to find an agreed solution to the increase in pressure in the streets with massive protests since Sunday night.
The protest movement does not stop, with more than 100,000 Israelis demonstrating today in Jerusalem in front of the Knesset, and after last night more than 650,000 people took to the streets across the country in response to Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister, the first member of his government to publicly ask to stop the reform.
After the announcement of a general strike by Israel’s largest workers’ union, Histadrut, important sectors of the public sector were closed. The strike affected Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport.