The announcement came after one of the coalition parties in Netanyahu's government, right-wing nationalist Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power), announced it was dropping the threat to abandon the government on the promise that the law change will resume during the next session of the Israeli parliament, likely in May.
"If the information that the change in the law is paused, it will be a great victory for the protest movement," Anders Persson, a political scientist and Israel expert at Linnaeus University, told SVT Nyheter.
An official statement from Netanyahu has yet to come — even though a press conference was expected as early as Monday morning. According to Reuters, he will make some kind of appearance at 19 p.m. Swedish time.
Extensive strike
Large protests have taken place in recent months and on Monday up to a hundred thousand demonstrators gathered in Jerusalem alone. At the same time, the country's flight graphics and port operations were paralyzed by a general strike that also spread to banks, shops and restaurants.
The government's controversial law means, among other things, that parliament will be able to review Supreme Court rulings and that politicians will have greater power over who becomes judges in the same court. The law also legally protects Netanyahu during the trial in which he faces charges of corruption.
Watch SVT's broadcast about the announcement here