Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has delayed by a few months his government’s plan to limit the powers of the country’s judiciary. The pause came in response to massive protests that raged across the country and a one-day general strike that shut down much of the economy. Netanyahu said he aimed to pull Israelis back from the brink of a civil war.
Hundreds of thousands of people — mostly secular Israelis in the center and on the left — have held weekly protests since January against the right-wing government’s attempt to reduce the power of the judicial system. The mostly peaceful demonstrations have been backed by Israel’s business and technology establishment and spread to the military, with numerous reservists warning they would withhold service if the government undercuts the judicial system. After the defense minister, a member of Netanyahu’s party, warned in a speech that the public divide could harm Israel’s national security, the prime minister fired him in a shock move. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets that night in a spontaneous demonstration, universities canceled classes to let students demonstrate, and Israel’s main labor federation called a one-day general strike for the next day. The strike shut down businesses and universities and stopped international departures at the main airport.
