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Israeli embassy in London shuts down as consular staff strike

A London protest for Israelis and Jews is planned for Monday afternoon at Parliament Square

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LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 23: A general view of the Israeli Embassy on March 23, 2010 in London, England. A Mossad representative at the Israel embassy in London is to be expelled after Israeli security services are alleged to have cloned British passports which aided the killing of a senior Hamas commander last month in Dubai. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Israel’s London embassy has shut down, joining a worldwide strike of diplomats over Neatnyahu's proposed judicial overhaul.

The embassy has not issued a statement but has shut down “to join the general strike.”

The unprecedented decision follows the example of American embassy announcing it too would join the strike and “shut down until further notice.”

Over the weekend, Israel’s Consul General in New York, Asaf Zamir, announced his resignation over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is reportedly preparing to announce a suspension of his judicial reform plans, tweeted a call for calm around lunchtime on Monday, his first communication since firing defence minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday night.

In his tweet, Netanyahu said: "I call on all the demonstrators in Jerusalem, on the right and the left, to behave responsibly and not to act violently. We are brotherly people."

On Monday, trade unions in Israel announced they were calling for a general strike as thousands of protesters took to the streets of Israel's major cities.

The Israeli diplomatic corps, which provides staff to Israel's embassies across the world announced they were joining the strike action around lunchtime on Monday.

Immediately following the announcement of the general strike, the head of the workers union at Ben-Gurion Airport announced an immediate stop to departures at Israel’s main airport, suspending flights for over four hours.

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