Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled his speech planned to be broadcast today, after consultations with heads of his ruling coalition parties.

The move comes in light of the widespread protests that Israel is witnessing, after Netanyahu dismissed Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for opposing the draft judicial amendments.

More than 500,000 Israeli demonstrators turned out in Tel Aviv to protest against Galant’s dismissal, while Israeli opposition leaders in parliament said Netanyahu had “crossed a red line”.

The Israeli army decided to raise the state of alert following the security developments in the wake of the “loss of control” of the demonstrators, as reported by Israeli media.

Media reported that Netanyahu is holding discussions with the leaders of the coalition blocs in his office to discuss “suspending the legislation,” while the Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that “the judicial legislation will not be stopped.”

Thousands of demonstrators gathered around Netanyahu’s house in occupied Jerusalem, and set rubber tires on fire, while the Israeli police set up barriers to prevent them from storming the house amidst a continuous flow of demonstrators to the protest sites in Israeli cities, especially Tel Aviv.

Today, the head of the Israeli General Federation of Labour, the Histadrut, declared a comprehensive strike in all economic facilities, in protest of the judicial amendments.

In the same context, the Workers’ Committee at Ben Gurion International Airport announced the suspension of flights take-off.

Meanwhile, university presidents intend to close classes from today, and Israeli doctors will stop working today in protest of Netanyahu’s revolution against the judiciary.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog called on the government today to halt proceedings related to the controversial judicial amendments.

Itamar Ben Gvir, the far-right partner in the ruling coalition, said that the Israeli government should proceed with the judicial amendments and not “succumb to chaos”, after mass protests last night.

On the other hand, the United States of America (USA) today expressed its deep concern about the situation in Israel, calling for the need to find a compromise as soon as possible, according to a statement by the spokeswoman for the National Security Council at the White House, Adrienne Watson.

Source: Oman News Agency