The Israeli parliament, the Knesset, passed a law on Monday that limits the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn decisions made by government ministers, completing the first stage of a wider and deeply contentious effort to curb the influence of the judiciary.

Later on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli people, seeking to quell unrest. Netanyahu’s government is the most Right-wing and religiously conservative in Israeli history, to curb the influence of the judiciary.

The Israeli leader, who was in the hospital to get apacemaker on Sunday, delivered his statement from his office.

Speaking in Hebrew, Netanyahu suggested shelving the broader judicial overhaul plan until late November, and sought to foster a sense of consensus amid one of the most turbulent moments in Israel’s contemporary history.

Yair Lapid, the centrist leader of the Opposition, said it was an empty offer because Netanyahu was in the clutches of the hard-line members of his coalition who reject any compromise. “This extremist and messianic government cannot tear our democracy to shreds at noon, and in the evening send Netanyahu to say that he offers negotiations,” he said. “We won’t give up — the struggle has just begun.”

The Knesset’s decision capped one of the most turbulent moments in Israel’s contemporary history, as protesters blocked roads outside parliament on Monday, attempting to disrupt a measure they called an affront to democracy, and mediators raced in vain to secure a last-minute compromise.

The furore surrounding Netanyahu’s broader judicial overhaul has become a stand-in for deeper rifts in Israel between those who want a more secular and pluralist state and those with a more religious and nationalist vision.

Opposition leaders immediately said they would ask the Supreme Court to rule on the legality of the new law, which limits judicial review over government decisions.

Leaders of one of the main protest groups pledged to continue demonstrating, saying that Israel “is going through the darkest period since its establishment”.

Israel’s largest labour union is considering calling a national strike, and more than 10,000 military reservists are threatening to resign from duty and hundreds of thousands of protesters are poised to spill into the streets.

The bill passed with 64 votes in favour and zero against it, with the Opposition boycotting the final vote on the bill in protest. It is the first major bill to pass in the government’s judicial overhaul.

Multiple last-minute attempts within the Knesset to amend the bill or to come to a broader procedural compromise with the Opposition failed.

A series of ideas for unilaterally softening the legislation, discussed by Netanyahu and key coalition leaders even as the Knesset was preparing to vote, also led nowhere.

The vote followed almost30 hours of debate that began on Sunday morning.

During that period, thousands of protesters took to the streets, both for and against curbing judicial checks on political power.

New York Times News Service and PTI