Medical staff plan strike against judicial overhaul on 28th week of protests

According to the head of the Israeli Medical Association, Professor Zion Hagay, the public health union is prepared to work only in "emergency mode" for a few hours this week.

The IMA represents about 95 per cent of physicians in the occupied lands. It has not yet decided the exact date of the strike, which will depend on the schedule of the legislative process in the Knesset.

According to the Israeli media, the coalition is advancing legislation to prevent courts from using the test of "reasonableness" in evaluating decisions made by the cabinet and ministers. Hagay said that the controversial bill "will devastate the healthcare system and is not just a theoretical concern."

Last Thursday over 1,000 doctors sent a letter to Hagay urging him to declare a strike until the "complete trashing of the overhaul." The signatories said that the plans will damage "the quality of medicine in Israel, will harm patients and undermine the great achievements of Israeli medicine."

Many doctors wearing medical uniform took part in a "day of resistance" last Tuesday. The White Coats, a group of Israeli doctors opposed to Netanyahu's policies, reported that about five per cent of the doctors at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv were absent from work on that day.

The rallies initially began in the occupied territories back in January, when Netanyahu’s cabinet announced a legislation package that would roll back some supreme court powers and give the governing hard-right coalition decisive sway in picking judges.

The protests subsided in late March after Netanyahu suspended the plan to hold compromise talks with opposition parties.

Last month, however, the Israeli premier re-launched his push and deemed the talks with the opposition pointless.