Israel urges calm amid plans for further protest at judicial overhaul

Israel’s president urged both sides of a dispute over government plans to overhaul the judiciary to refrain from any violence, using the occasion of a Jewish fast on Thursday to appeal for reconciliation as protesters planned more demonstrations.
The plans being pursued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government have prompted months of unprecedented protests, opened up a deep divide in Israeli society, and strained the loyalties of some army reservists.
Now in its seventh month, the crisis surged on Monday after parliament passed the first of the changes trimming Supreme Court powers over his ruling religious-nationalist coalition.
Demonstrations for and against the judicial overhaul were on hold for Tisha B’av, the fast day mourning the destruction of two ancient Jewish temples in Jerusalem blamed by the sages on needless infighting.