News - Middle East: Following twelve consecutive weeks of protests, which at times got violent, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has finally accepted to delay his infamous judicial reforms plan.

According to a Monday statement issued by the far-right Jewish Power party, which is a member of Netanyahu’s coalition cabinet, Netanyahu will delay the process for discussions on the controversial planned reforms until next month.

The statement added that the legislation would be pushed to the next session of the Knesset in order to "pass the reforms through dialogue." The Knesset will go on recess next week for the Jewish Passover holiday.

A few hours later, Netanyahu himself made a televised speech, saying he would delay his judicial reforms until the next parliamentary session.

"… I have decided to delay the second and third reading in order to reach a broad consensus," he said.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, an Israeli far-right minister, also said he had agreed to delay the judicial overhaul plan in exchange for a promise it would be brought up after the upcoming parliamentary recess.

Before the delay was announced, Israel's army chief of staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, called on the regime’s forces to continue to do their duty in the face of bitter divisions over the judicial plan.

His remarks came amid reports that a large group of Israeli forces have pledged not to heed call-ups for military reserve duty if the reforms proceed.

Mass protests have gripped the apartheid regime since it announced its proposed judicial reforms in January. Tens of thousands of demonstrators have faced off against police in the streets on a weekly basis, with the latest protests attended by hundreds of thousands in Tel Aviv on Saturday and Sunday.

The new protests came after Netanyahu fired the regime's minister for military affairs, Yoav Gallant, over his criticism of the controversial plan.

On Saturday, Gallant had called on the regime's far-right cabinet to halt the legislation, saying the bitter dispute it has caused was posing a threat to the occupying regime itself.