(JNS) Organizers of mass protests against the Netanyahu government’s planned judicial reform called for a nationwide strike during a press conference this week.

“We call on the citizens to notify the workplaces today that they will not work on Monday [Feb. 13] and go out into the streets. This is the most important struggle for the state—the struggle for Israel’s independence as a Jewish and democratic state,” the organizers said.

Former Minister of Defense and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. (res.) Moshe Ya’alon, one of the protest leaders, asked that business owners allow their employees to go out and protest on Monday.

The organizers chose Monday because that’s when the first vote in the Knesset plenum concerning judicial reform will take place.