Netanyahu backs down on flagship reforms after day of chaos in Israel

Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night caved into pressure to freeze his plans for hugely controversial legal reforms after a day of chaos in which tens of thousands of Israeli protesters marched through cities, grounded flights and closed businesses.

In a TV address on Monday evening, the embattled Israeli prime minister said he was pausing the reforms until the next parliamentary session in several weeks to avoid a “civil war” breaking out in the country.

“I am taking time out for dialogue,” he said, as he vowed to “turn over every stone to find a solution” and compared the bitter divisions in Israel over his reforms to the parable of the judgment of Solomon.

Israeli protest leaders rejected the delay as insufficient and vowed to continue demonstrations until the reform package is scrapped altogether. They have long maintained that the reform package will transform Israel into a “dictatorship” by neutering the supreme court and ramping up the government’s influence over the appointment of judges.

Mr Netanyahu insists the reforms are a necessary step to strip the Israeli legal system of Left-wing bias.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, the extreme-Right police minister in Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, claimed on Monday night that he had only agreed to delaying the reforms after being given permission to set up his own national guard unit in return.

Critics warned this could amount to Mr Ben-Gvir, who has convictions for anti-Arab racism and supporting Jewish terrorism, controlling his own private militia - and said it reflected how the Netanyahu government is largely beholden to extremist coalition members.

Mr Netanyahu’s attempts to overhaul the legal system, his flagship policy since his election victory last November, have led to the largest mass protests in the Jewish state’s history.

His statement came after a day of unprecedented strikes and political chaos in Israel.

In Jerusalem alone, between 80-100,000 people marched in protest at Mr Netanyahu’s legal reforms while protests of a similar scale were underway in Tel Aviv and other cities.

The Tel Aviv stock exchange, some major retail chains and McDonald’s Israel joined the strikes, with their branches shuttered nationwide on Monday.

Shortly after lunchtime, sources confirmed to The Telegraph that Israeli embassy staff in London were also joining the strike against Mr Netanyahu’s reforms. Similar announcements from other Israeli embassies, including in Washington, followed soon after, amid reports that some Israeli police chiefs were crossing sides to join the protesters.

Such a strike, which was announced by the major Israeli labour union Histadrut, has not happened in Israel since the rule of the British Empire in the territory, Israeli media reported.

Outside the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, demonstrators waved blue and white flags, chanted “Democratia [democracy]” and waved anti-Netanyahu placards.

Several told The Telegraph that the dramatic events of Sunday night, when Mr Netanyahu sacked his defence minister for publicly criticising the legal reforms, prompted them to come out and protest.

“There was no way I could stay at home, last night felt like the crossing of a boundary...it was the time to wake up and protest,” said Nathaniel Katzir, a 44-year-old tech industry professional.

“I am here to join the protest against the legislation started by Netanyahu and his associates. I think he's leading us to an autocratic regime,” said Yousef Kaplan, 79, an Israeli army veteran and retired professor from Hebrew University.

After sundown, smaller crowds of pro-Netanyahu protests began arriving in Jerusalem as they claimed that the Israeli establishment was trying to override democracy via the demonstrations.

“We keep electing Right-wing, but getting Left-wing decisions,” said one demonstrator, alluding to the sweeping election victory of Mr Netanyahu’s Likud party and his extreme-Right coalition partners in November’s elections.

Mr Netanyahu had initially signalled that he would issue the statement freezing his reforms on Monday morning, but then delayed that move for 10 hours amid frantic negotiations with his coalition partners.

Israelis have been protesting against the reforms on a weekly basis, but the sacking of Mr Galant, the defence minister, on Sunday night led to a massive escalation in their intensity and scale.

Mr Galant had warned Mr Netanyahu that pushing ahead with the reforms was undermining Israeli security, as hundreds of reservists have said they will stop reporting for duty.

Mr Netanyahu’s decision to sack him for raising defence concerns shocked many Israelis as security is sacrosanct in the Jewish state, where national service is compulsory.

In response to Mr Netanyahu’s climbdown, Histadrut, the labour union behind the mass strikes, said they had called off a second day of strike action.

Yair Lapid, one of Israel’s opposition leaders, said they would only join a dialogue on finding a compromise over the reforms if he abandons the current legislation process and starts afresh.