Israel's judicial overhaul delayed after mass protests and strikes

Israel has been brought to a standstill by a "historic" general strike, as anger and unrest at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plans to weaken the judiciary peaked.

Nurses, airport workers and many more have reduced their hours or walked out.

The initial strike action was called by Histadrut, Israel's largest trade union federation, and has been joined or supported by workers in multiple sectors.

The federation said critical services such as hospitals, firefighters and the electric company would operate on a Saturday schedule. Food establishments and day care centers will operate as usual and public transportation will continue to run. 

“Actions that could endanger human life and the security of the country will not be taken,” Histadrut added.

“Stop this judicial process before it is too late,” the federation's leader Arnon Bar-David said, addressing Netanyahu directly as he called the strike.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is "trying to make Israel a dictatorship," according to the country's former leader Ehud Barak, in a blistering attack against the man he once served in Cabinet.

“It’s the most severe crisis we have had in Israel in the last 75 years," Barak, who was Israeli prime minister between 1999 and 2001, said at an event hosted by London think tank Chatham House. "It’s a threat to our democracy and our way of life."

Barak replaced Netanyahu as Israel's leader and later served as his defense minister for four years. But he attacked his former boss's new, right-wing government, saying it "acts blatantly illegitimately in what it is doing."

"We are defending democracy against those who are using the very tools that democracy gives and the very freedom that it bestows upon its citizens in order to destroy it from within," Barak said.

His intervention came as protests and strikes swept the country, amid an outpouring of anger over Netanyahu's efforts to weaken the judiciary.

Israel's embassy in Washington, DC, “will be closed today until further notice and no consular services will be provided," the embassy's spokesperson tweeted Monday.

The embassy staff were instructed to go on strike by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union federation. Asked if Ambassador Michael Herzog is joining the strike, the embassy spokesperson said he “follows the union’s instructions.”

Some background: The temporary shuttering of Israel’s embassy in Washington – with other missions in the US and around the world expected to follow suit – is an extraordinary act of protest in response to a domestic political dispute. Israeli diplomats told CNN they don't recall any other time that the embassy was closed due to a political crisis at home. 

Whether or not the diplomats join any public protests is unclear. Typically diplomats are not allowed to join political protests. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on protesters in Jerusalem to behave responsibly and “not to act violently.”

“I call on all the demonstrators in Jerusalem, on the right and the left, to behave responsibly and not to act violently. We are brotherly people," he said in a post on Twitter.

Netanyahu is yet to address the country directly as chaos swept Israel on Monday, beyond his tweet.

The protests that have been raging across Israel for months escalated over the weekend and continued into Monday, when strikes across multiple industries also brought much of the country to a halt.

Crowds of Israelis made their way to the Knesset in Jerusalem, demanding an end to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's efforts to overhaul the judiciary, which some say threaten the country’s democratic foundations.

Others gathered at the Supreme Court waving Israeli flags, an ever-present symbol at the demonstrations.

In Tel Aviv, crowds spilled into roads and stopped traffic, aerial footage showed.

Workers across several sectors also walked out in a general strike called by Israel's largest union.

Israel’s Justice Minister Yariv Levin, one of the most forceful advocates of judicial overhaul, opened the door to the possibility of delaying the legislation, warning that lawlessness could bring the government down. 

The controversial legislation sparked unprecedented nationwide strikes on Monday, after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for advocating a delay in passing the laws. 

More than two dozen mayors from across Israel went on a hunger strike Monday in Jerusalem, protesting against the government’s proposed judicial overhaul, they announced. 

The statement was signed by 27 officials, representing a broad spectrum of local authorities across the country.

Workers at Haifa port -- the largest in Israel -- have joined the strikes that have brought much of the country to a standstill, the port's spokesperson Zohar Arnon told CNN Monday.

“Our workers have stopped,” Arnon said. “They are still in the port waiting for developments.”

The port in the northern Israeli city of Haifa is one of the country's main hubs. Earlier on Monday, Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion Tel Aviv, announced an immediate halt to all departing flights.

The Azrieli Group, a large chain of Israeli malls, also announced Monday it is also closing in support of the strikes. “We must not stand by when Israel is burning," its chairman Dana Azrieli said in a statement.

And McDonald’s has closed all of its restaurants across the country, the company announced on Twitter Monday.

The action is part of what Israel’s largest union federation called a “historic” general strike on Monday, intended to heighten pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to halt his judicial overhaul.

“Stop this judicial revolution, this craziness,” Histadrut union federation leader Arnon Bar-David told Netanyahu in a televised speech.

Israel’s former Prime Minister Yair Lapid has called on Benjamin Netanyahu's government to halt its judicial overhaul, telling the Knesset that the country has been "taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries."

"It is proof that this government has lost its brakes. It is a danger to the State of Israel, it is a danger to the security of Israel. Our home is in danger," he added.

Lapid called on Netanyahu to reverse his decision to fire Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and told lawmakers "we've never been closer to falling apart."

"Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, we don't know what to say to our children about their future in this country. We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries," said Lapid, who served as prime minister for five months before Netanyahu returned to power following November's election.

"It's almost too late, but it isn't too late yet. There are enough decent people in the Likud who can and should stop this madness," he said.