Doctors in Israel begin 24-hour strike as newspapers run blacklists today to their headlines amid an outcry over the approval of the first changes to the judiciary which their critics say will jeopardize the independence of the courts.

The first bill, which limits Supreme Court review of certain government decisionswas passed yesterday in a stormy Knesset session after lawmakers abstained, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is pushing Israel toward autocracy.

With the protests have rocked Israel for months, thousands of people took to the streets and clashed with the police last night.

“A Black Day for the Republic of Israel,” said a front-page entry in major newspapers by an organization whose members say they are concerned workers in high-tech services.

The crisis has divided Israeli society and strained relations with Israel’s closest ally, the US, which yesterday described the vote as “regrettable”. Britain called on Israel to maintain the independence of the courtsbuild consensus and ensure a strong system of checks and balances.

Protest leaders said more and more army reservists would no longer report for duty if the government went ahead with its plans.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid asked them not yet to carry out the threat, which has disturbed Israel’s sense of national security, pending the Supreme Court’s decision on appeals brought by a non-governmental organization and the Israel Bar Association.

The Israel Medical Association ordered doctors to go on strike. He invoked the removal of the Supreme Court’s ability to nullify, if it considers it ‘absurd’, possible government interference in decisions by Health Ministry personnel. The 24-hour strike will not concern Jerusalem, where there is an escalation of conflicts, according to the same association. The government is considering insurance measures that would force doctors back to work.

The 73-year-old Netanyahu, who was first elected to the prime ministership in 1996 and is now serving his sixth term, is facing his biggest domestic crisis yet. The Israeli prime minister sought to reassure the opposition — as well as Israel’s Western allies — by saying yesterday that he hoped to reach consensus on any new legislation by November.