The strong protest in the streets and the emergence of tensions within his majority were ultimately too strong for Benjamin Netanyahu. The prime minister on Monday announced a "pause" in the justice reform plan that divides Israel.

Claiming to want to give "a real chance to a real dialogue", Benjamin Netanyahu hopes to "reach a broad agreement" on the reform at the next parliamentary session to open after Passover (April 5-13). A strong ally of Israel, Washington, which had repeatedly expressed its concerns, welcomed a decision that "gives more time to find a compromise".

Histadrut union ends general strike

Two of the main opposition leaders said they were ready to dialogue with the government, but as part of the mediation proposed for several weeks by President Isaac Herzog, while warning the executive against any attempt at deception. "We [must] first make sure that there is no trickery or bluff," said opposition leader Yair Lapid (center). "Better late than never," said center-right Benny Gantz.

Shortly after the Prime Minister's speech, the major trade union centre Histadrut announced the end of the general strike it had decreed in the morning with the stated aim of stopping the reform. In civil society, the organizers of the protest, which has emerged for weeks as one of the largest popular mobilization movements Israel has known, have been much more circumspect, calling for the demonstrations to continue until the project is "totally stopped".

Since the announcement of this project in early January, tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated every week to denounce it and to condemn the government formed in December. The pace of the protests has intensified since mid-March and tension had risen again on Sunday after the announcement of the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who had publicly spoken the day before for a "pause" in reform. Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Tel Aviv, which led to clashes with security forces overnight.

Opponents fear an authoritarian drift

Also on Monday, tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv and around the parliament in Jerusalem to protest the reform. In the evening, a counter-demonstration, the first of its kind, gathered several thousand people near the Supreme Court in Jerusalem.

For Benjamin Netanyahu's government, the reform aims to rebalance powers by reducing the prerogatives of the Supreme Court, which the executive considers politicized, to the benefit of Parliament. On the contrary, the protesters believe that it risks leading to an illiberal or authoritarian drift.

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