Itamar Ben-Gvir

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday night paused a judicial overhaul that triggered a general strike, political division and mass protests in the country's most severe domestic crisis in years.

The proposed reforms would curtail the authority of the Supreme Court and give politicians greater powers over the selection of judges.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated his vision for a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue, but with limited military sovereignty and possibly only possible after his country achieves peace with more Arab countries - particularly Saudi Arabia.

Tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Tel Aviv on Saturday night to protest plans by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government to overhaul the legal system and weaken the Supreme Court — a step that critics say will destroy the country's democratic system of checks and balances.

Israeli and Palestinian envoys to the United Nations on Thursday traded heated barbs at a Security Council meeting over the controversial visit by an Israeli minister to Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, called the session "pathetic" and "absurd" while the Palestinian envoy accused the Jewish state of acting "with absolute contempt."

Israel's national security minister's "provocative action" against Al-Aqsa Mosque is "unacceptable," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told his Israeli counterpart in a telephone call, the Foreign Ministry said on Jan. 4.

Turkey condemned on Tuesday a "provocative act" by Israel's new far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, referring to his visit to Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.

Ankara's statement came amid efforts by Turkey and Israel to normalize ties, after a four-year deterioration in relations, and mutual appointment of ambassadors.

The raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque by Israeli parliament member Itamar Ben-Gvir and radical Jewish groups under the protection of the Israeli police, as well as the attempts of these groups to worship in this area, are a "clear violation" of the status quo of Al-Haram Al-Sharif and the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Foreign Ministry said on May 29.

Israelis were voting on March 23 in their fourth election in less than two years, with the nation still divided over whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deserves to remain in power.

Israel's longest-serving premier, and still its most popular politician, has for several years proved unable to unite a stable governing majority behind him.