THE President of Israel, Isaac Herzog announced today that a first will be held tonight “dialogue meeting” between the parties of the ruling majority and the opposition with the object of reforming the judicial system which is dividing the country.

The president “he invited working groups representing the ruling coalition, (opposition party) Ges Atid and National Unity Party (also in opposition) for a first meeting at his residence tonight at 7.30pm”said the official announcement of the presidency.

Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz, the two leaders of the centrist parties, said since Monday night that they are ready for a dialogue with the majority, under Herzog’s auspices.

Earlier, right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he had decided to take a “pause” in advancing the controversial bill to “give a chance to real dialogue” and to pass the reform with a broader consensus in the next parliamentary session, after Passover.

Herzog has been mediating for weeks between supporters and opponents of the reform, while backlash has grown and protests have been back-to-back since early January.

The LikudNetanyahu’s party, announced earlier in the afternoon the names of those who will attend the meeting.

In Israel, however, there are many who do not trust the government’s intentions. For Yohanan Plessner, the president of the Israel Democracy Institute, the “pause” announced by Netanyahu is an opportunity “to regroup, reorganize and then move forward” with his plan. Many members of the government also assure that the reform will be passed in the end. Among them is Finance Minister and head of a far-right, religious party, Bezalel Smotric, who said on Monday that “the reform will go ahead and the necessary changes in the judicial system will be achieved”.

One of the collectives organizing the demonstrations announced today that the mobilizations will continue “until the judicial coup is stopped.” Demonstrations are planned for tonight in Tel Aviv and outside Herzog’s residence in Jerusalem.