Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government has delayed bitterly contested plans to overhaul Israel’s judiciary after a backlash that brought much of the country to a halt.
The veteran prime minister bowed to public pressure after 24 hours in which tens of thousands of people took to the streets, the country’s biggest union called a strike and Israel’s president implored the government to change course.
“I am not ready to divide the nation,” Netanyahu said in a prime-time address, announcing that the government was delaying its push for parliamentary approval of the legislation. “When there’s an option to avoid civil war through dialogue, I take time off for dialogue.”
But, in a sign that he is not fully backing down, he hit out at what he called “an extremist minority” involved in the protests.
The fight over the proposals has plunged Israel into its biggest political crisis in years, unsettling investors, alarming allies and sparking the biggest wave of protests in more than a decade.
Supporters say the changes — which will give the government and its allies greater control over the appointment of judges and limit the top court’s ability to strike down laws — are needed to rein in an activist judiciary that has pushed a partisan leftwing agenda.
But critics of Netanyahu, who began his sixth term as prime minister in December, see the overhaul as a fundamental threat to Israel’s checks and balances that would weaken minority protections, foster corruption and damage the economy.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, said US president Joe Biden had been “very forthright” about Washington’s concerns about the developments, adding that US officials “strongly urge Israeli leaders to compromise”.
Monday’s tumult began in the wake of Netanyahu sacking his defence minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday night after he had called for the judicial overhaul to be halted. Gallant, a former military officer, warned that it posed a “tangible threat” to Israel’s security.
Diplomats at Israeli embassies around the world subsequently stopped work in protest while flights were grounded at Ben Gurion international airport. Public dissent rippled through the economy — with ports, shopping mall chains and the medical association announcing strikes.
Municipalities and local councils also announced they would stop work, while bank branches began to close.
The outpouring of anger has drawn in the military, with increasing numbers of reservists threatening not to report for training, sparking fears that its capabilities are being undermined.
Ahead of Netanyahu’s announcement, his coalition partner, the extreme-right Jewish Power party, said it had agreed to postpone the overhaul until the next parliamentary session in May to allow for “dialogue”.
Earlier in the day, Ben-Gvir, the ultranationalist national security minister who leads the party, said the government “must not surrender to anarchy”.
Israel’s president Isaac Herzog had called on the prime minister to back down, warning that the “entire nation is rapt with deep worry”.
Former prime minister Ehud Barak described the crisis as the “most severe” since the modern state of Israel was founded in 1948.
Kirby said Biden had told Netanyahu that “democratic societies are strengthened by the whole idea of checks and balances as well as the fact that any fundamental change to a democratic system really ought to be pursued with the broadest possible base of popular support”.
Further demonstrations had been planned for Monday evening, including one in favour of the judicial reforms.
Amid concerns of violence, Netanyahu urged supporters from both right and left, to “behave responsibly”.
Netanyahu had said last week that the government would press ahead with the overhaul and bring an amendment to give it greater control over judicial appointments to parliament for a final vote this week.
Additional reporting by Andrew England in London