Netanyahu’s Government Survives No-Confidence Motion Despite Hundreds of Thousands Protesting Judicial Reforms

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Monday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to reform the country’s judicial system, but the far-right religious-nationalist coalition government survived a no-confidence motion filed by the country’s political opposition parties.

The motion failed by a vote of 59-53, according to the speaker of Israel’s legislature, the Knesset. Netanyahu was due to deliver a speech to the nation Monday morning, Israeli media reported, but TV stations later said those plans had been suspended.

The strike by the Histadrut umbrella group, which represents more than 700,000 workers in health, transit and banking, among many other fields, could paralyze large parts of Israel’s economy, which is already on shaky ground, ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul.

The plans proposed by Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition in January would threaten the independence of the Supreme Court, and would give the government more control over the court’s selection process. This followed scenes of widespread unrest on Sunday night, after Netanyahu fired Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who became the first member of his Likud Party to speak out against the reforms.

The protests have been ongoing for weeks, and the pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the reforms has been mounting. Despite the protests, Netanyahu’s government has managed to survive the no-confidence motion, and it remains to be seen what the Prime Minister’s next move will be.