Israeli diplomats in Canada join strike amid Netanyahu judicial overhaul – National | Globalnews.ca

Israeli diplomats in Canada joined a strike on Monday against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judicial system.

The diplomats’ move follows instructions given to Israeli missions worldwide to walk off the job, in line with a decision by the country’s largest trade union, Histadrut, which launched the job action on March 27.

Only emergency services will be provided, an Israeli embassy spokesperson told Global News in an email. The mission in Ottawa, and its consulates in Toronto and Montreal, are closed.

“We don’t know how long it will last,” the spokesperson said in regard to the strike.

The strike by the Histadrut umbrella group, which represents nearly 800,000 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.

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After taking power late last year, key figures in Netanyahu’s Likud Party, along with his governing partners, pledged to quickly overhaul the country’s judicial system. Critics have said it is driven by a desire to push their ideological agendas with less judicial oversight.

Opponents have said the overhaul would upend the country’s delicate system of checks and balances. They also claim Netanyahu has a deep conflict of interest in trying to reshape the legal system while on trial for corruption in three separate cases.

The government says the legal changes are necessary to streamline governance in the face of an interventionist judiciary.

Departing flights from the country’s main international airport have been grounded, universities have shut their doors and the main doctors’ union says its members will also walk off the job.

More to come.

— with files from The Associated Press.

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