ISRAELI Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided today to delay his controversial overhaul of the country’s judicial system, his coalition partners say.

A spokesperson for Jewish Power said the plans will not now be discussed in parliament until next month.

The country was brought to a standstill today as Israel’s largest trade union centre, Histadrut, joined the protests against the plans.

The strike by the 800,000 strong union centre, which includes workers in health, transit and banking, paralysed large parts of Israel’s economy, ratcheting up the pressure on Mr Netanyahu to ditch the overhaul.

Flights from the country’s main international airport were grounded, large shopping centre chains closed and universities shut their doors as staff and students supported the protests. 

Diplomats walked off the job at foreign missions, local governments were expected to close the pre-schools they run and cut other services, and the main doctors’ union announced its members would also strike.

Tens of thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside parliament. There were also large demonstrations in Tel Aviv, Haifa and other Israeli cities.

“This is the last chance to stop this move into a dictatorship,” said Matityahu Sperber, who joined the protest outside the Knesset. “I’m here for the fight to the end.”

The growing resistance to the plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a show of anger at Mr Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, after he called for a pause to the overhaul. 

On Monday Mr Netanyahu appealed against violence ahead of a planned counter-protest in Jerusalem organised by ultra-nationalist supporters of the judicial overhaul.

The plan, driven by Mr Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has sparked a sustained and intensifying protest movement that has spread to nearly all sectors of society, including its military.

Mr Netanyahu denies all the allegations of corruption levelled against him.

The protesters say they are fighting for the very soul of the nation, seeing the overhaul as a direct challenge to Israel’s so-called democratic ideals. 

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, a former ally turned rival of Mr Netanyahu’s, said yesterday that Israel was “in a landslide of losing control.”

“We haven’t been in such a dangerous situation in 50 years,” he told Israeli Army Radio.

Speaking at a protest rally, chair of Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, said: “Where are we leading our beloved Israel? To the abyss.”

“Today we are stopping everyone’s descent towards the abyss.”