Israelis protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's judicial overhaul plan outside the parliament in Jerusalem, Monday, March 27, 2023. Israeli diplomats in Canada have joined a strike against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to overhaul the country's judiciary. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Ariel Schalit
OTTAWA – Israeli diplomats in Canada have joined a strike against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the country’s judiciary.
Israeli Embassy spokesman Eli Lipshitz confirmed that mission in Ottawa is closed in accordance with a decision by Israel’s largest trade union, Histadrut.
The consulates in Toronto and Montreal are also closed and on strike.
“In accordance with the decision of the labour union (in) Israel, that civil servants are unionized under, all missions abroad are currently on strike and are closed,” Lipshitz said in a statement.
Histadrut spokesman Yaniv Levy says missions are providing only emergency services.
Workers from across a range of fields went on strike Monday in a bid to ramp up pressure on Netanyahu to scrap the overhaul plan.
The planned overhaul has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises.
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.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 27, 2023.
– With files from The Associated Press.
