ANKARA

Thousands of Israelis on Saturday joined several rallies across Israel to protest controversial government plans to change the judicial system.

According to the Times of Israel, nearly 195,000 Israelis took part in the main protest which took place in Tel Aviv while rallies in other Israeli cities were joined by tens of thousands of protesters.

The rallies came as Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant early on Saturday called for halting government plans for the judicial overhaul till next month to give space for talks on the issue.

Gallant also called on opposition parties to immediately halt the rallies.

Israel has seen mass protests in recent weeks over plans by the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for judicial reform, seen by the opposition as an attempt to shrink the powers of the judicial authority in favor of the executive.