Mass protests and strikes have brought Israel to a standstill, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to pause the controversial judicial overhaul legislation until the next session of the Knesset. The strikes and protests were sparked by Netanyahu's decision to fire his defense minister after he spoke out against the far-reaching legislation. Under the legislation, the government would have more control over the appointment of judges, and parliament would gain power to override Supreme Court decisions, threatens the foundations of Israeli democracy according to its opponents.

The nation's largest labor union called an end to the strike after Netanyahu's announcement, but warned there would be more if the "prime minister returns to aggressive legislation." Israeli embassies and consulates abroad were closed on Monday as workers complied with the general strike called by the Histadrut, the main labor union. Netanyahu's assumption that the public would acquiesce in his transparent attempt to extricate himself from his legal troubles has proven to be a miscalculation. Since January, a protest movement spontaneously emerged, drawing tens of thousands initially, and now hundreds of thousands. The collapse of the two-state solution and the threat to democracy from a new governing coalition have made Israel unrecognizable now.