Europe News Desk!! Amid nationwide protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will suspend the legislation of his controversial plan to reform the country’s judiciary for about a month to allow dialogue between coalition and opposition lawmakers. He made the remarks in a televised speech late on Monday, Xinhua news agency reported. Netanyahu said he had decided to suspend the legislation to allow time to try to reach a broad agreement on the reforms. Opponents of the justice bill have dismissed Netanyahu’s statement, saying the suspension is not genuine. There was no discussion or voting during the Knesset recess that began on Monday. Orly Bar-Lev, one of the main leaders of the protest against the Justice Bill, wrote on Twitter, the struggle continues.
As long as the prime minister and his allies intend to resume the law, we will be on the road, he said. Following Netanyahu’s remarks, Israel’s largest trade union Histadrut, which represents 800,000 workers in the infrastructure, banking, transport, health and other sectors, announced a general strike on Monday that will end on Tuesday. The Israel Airports Authority said in a statement that flights, which were halted in the morning because of the strike, had resumed. Opposition leader Yair Lapid did not immediately endorse Netanyahu’s statement, but said he always welcomes dialogue.
In a televised news conference, Lapid said Netanyahu continued to push through reforms without talks, despite calling for talks several times. On Monday, factories, banks, shopping malls and local authorities observed a general strike and shutdown of services. Meanwhile, the Israeli Medical Association announced a one-day strike at all public hospitals and community clinics. Israel’s two largest mall chains, the Azrieli Group and the BIG Group, joined the strike and closed dozens of their shopping centers across the country.
–IANS
World News Desk!!!
SKK/SKP