Israeli embassy in US shuts down in protest against judicial reform

The Israeli embassy in the United States has temporarily shut down in protest against the judiciary reform project pursued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli Embassy's spokesman, Elad Strohmayer, made the announcement on Twitter, according to TASS.

"Today (3/27), the Histadrut, Israel's largest labor union, instructed all government employees to go on strike, including Israel’s diplomatic missions around the world. The Embassy of Israel will be closed today until further notice and no consular services will be provided," Strohmayer wrote.

Netanyahu's conservative cabinet, sworn in late last year, has decided to bolster executive power in Israel after numerous political crises - no government has lasted longer than a year since 2019. In particular, the prime minister proposed limiting the Supreme Court's power to veto laws passed by parliament and giving control over the selection of judges to the government.

Since the beginning of January, protests against judicial reform have been taking place in Israel by the thousands. Rallies took place at least twice a week, and the number of participants grew to more than 600,000 on March 25 (the country has less than 10 million inhabitants in total).