ISRAELI protesters blocked highways, brought trains to a halt and gathered outside Tel Aviv’s stock exchange and military headquarters today in protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial overhaul.

Demonstrators, which included military reservists, created human chains and blocked one of the entrances to the Kirya, Israel’s military headquarters in central Tel Aviv.

Outside the Tel Aviv stock exchange, protesters ignited smoke bombs and held up signs reading: “Save our start-up nation” — a term coined by Israeli allies for the nation’s swift “development” since occupying Palestinian land — and “dictatorship will kill the economy.”

Others demonstrated outside the headquarters of the Histadrut, Israel's largest trade union, demanding the organisation call a general strike.

Protesters scaled scaffolding outside the building and hoisted reservist protest flags.

The union had called a strike in March, which contributed to Mr Netanyahu freezing the judicial overhaul.

The plan was revived last month after compromise talks with the political opposition collapsed.

Later in the day, protesters flooded train stations across the country during afternoon rush hour.

Police closed a central station in Tel Aviv, preventing hundreds of protesters from entering.

Mr Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist and Orthodox allies today pushed the proposed legislation through a parliamentary committee ahead of a vote next week.

The proposed laws would grant politicians greater control over the appointment of judges, and give parliament the power to overturn court decisions and pass laws impervious to judicial review.

Mr Netanyahu and his allies claim the measures are necessary to curb an over-activist Supreme Court comprised of unelected judges.

But critics warn that the judicial overhaul will concentrate power in the hands of the government and undermine the country’s legal system.

They also say Mr Netanyahu has a conflict of interest because he is on trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes.

Police said officers had arrested at least 19 people suspected of public disturbance during protests blocking highways in central Israel.

The Israel Medical Association also announced that it would be holding a two-hour strike in protest at the legislation tomorrow.

Today, Israel’s figurehead president Isaac Herzog met with US President Joe Biden to sustain ties between the two allied nations, despite concerns raised in the US over the judicial plans.

Mr Herzog is expected to make an address to Congress tomorrow to mark Israel’s celebration of its 75th year of independence – soon after the Nakba, when it massacred thousands of Palestinians and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.