Tens of thousands of protesters marched on the main highway into Jerusalem on Saturday evening in a last-ditch show of force aimed at blocking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's contentious judicial overhaul. More than 100 of Israel's former security chiefs signed a letter pleading with the Israeli premier to halt the legislation. The arrival of the marchers turned the city's main entrance into a sea of blue and white Israeli flags as they completed the last leg of a four-day, 70 kilometer (45-mile) trek from Tel Aviv to Israel's parliament. The marchers joined forces with hundreds of other protesters and planned to camp outside the Knesset, or parliament, ahead of Monday's expected vote. Netanyahu and his far-right allies claim the overhaul is needed to curb what they say are the excessive powers of unelected judges. But their critics say the plan will destroy the country's system of checks and balances and put it on the path toward authoritarian rule. The proposed overhaul has drawn harsh criticism from business and medical leaders, and a fast-rising number of military reservists in key units have said they will stop reporting for duty if the plan passes, raising concern that the country's security interests could be threatened. Over 100 top former security chiefs, including retired military commanders, police commissioners and heads of intelligence agencies joined those calls on Saturday, signing a letter to Netanyahu blaming him for compromising Israel’s defense, undermining the Israeli Defense Forces and urging him to halt the legislation. The signatories included Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister. “The legislation is crushing those things shared by Israeli society, is tearing the people apart, disintegrating the IDF and inflicting fatal blows on Israel’s security,” they wrote. “The legislative process violates the social contract that has existed for 75 years between the Israeli government and thousands of reserve officers and soldiers from the land, air, sea, and intelligence branches who have volunteered for many years for the reserves to defend the democratic state of Israel, and now announce with a broken heart that they are suspending their volunteer service,” the letter said. After seven straight months of the most sustained and intense demonstrations the country has ever seen, the grassroots protest movement has reached a fever pitch. The parliament is expected to vote Monday on a measure that would prevent the Supreme Court judges from striking down government decisions on the basis that they are “unreasonable.” Proponents say the current “reasonability” standard gives the judges excessive powers over decision making by elected officials. But critics say that removing the standard, which is invoked only in rare cases, would allow the government to pass arbitrary decisions, make improper appointments or firings and open the door to corruption. Protests were also planned on Saturday evening at the central square of the coastal city of Tel Aviv, Israel's main hub. Monday's vote would mark the first major piece of legislation to be approved. The overhaul also calls for other sweeping changes aimed at curbing the powers of the judiciary, from limiting the Supreme Court’s ability to challenge parliamentary decisions, to changing the way judges are selected. Protesters, who make up a wide swath of Israeli society, see the overhaul as a power grab fueled by various personal and political grievances by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption charges, and his partners, who want to deepen Israel’s control of the occupied West Bank and perpetuate controversial draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men. In a speech Thursday, Netanyahu doubled down on the overhaul and dismissed as absurd the accusations that the plan would destroy Israel’s democratic foundations. “This is an attempt to mislead you over something that has no basis in reality,” he said. Alarmed by the growing mass of reservists refusing to serve, the country’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, pushed for a delay in Monday’s vote, according to reports in Israeli media. It was unclear if others would join him. Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Fierce protests have been rocking Israel for months. What's fueling them? Thousands march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to protest Israeli government's judicial overhaul plan Ex-Israeli security chief backs reservists' protest as Netanyahu allies advance judicial overhaul

By Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russia was considering withdrawing from the Black Sea

An all-expense-paid, weekend (read: three days) vacation to the domestic destination of the winner's choosing. Those were the stakes in a bet I made with my husband in the winter of 2021 into 2022, still in the throes of the pandemic, when "And Just Like That..." premiered.

Chris Taylor scored on a bases-loaded walk in the 12th inning, Max Muncy homered twice to move back into the major league lead, and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Minnesota Twins 9-8 for their sixth straight win

It was recently disclosed that Melissa and Joe Gorga never paid for the installation of an outdoor kitchen at their house 5 years ago

The sole suspect in the Tylenol poisoning murders that claimed seven lives and led to changes to how over-the-counter prescription drugs were manufactured and sold has died. James Lewis, 76, was found unresponsive at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Sunday, and pronounced dead soon after, authorities said. His death has frustrated law enforcement who had continued to pursue Lewis over the indiscriminate 1982 killing spree in the Chicago area that left six adults and a 12-year-old girl dead. Lewis was convicted of attempting to extort manufacturer Johnson & Johnson after sending a letter claiming responsibility for the deaths and demanding $1m to stop. He was questioned as recently as September over the poisonings, in which a suspect laced bottles of Tylenol with potassium cyanide. But no-one has ever been charged over the deaths, which led to widespread panic and sweeping changes to the way prescription drugs were bought and sold. Read More Utah mom accused of poisoning husband before writing grief book is sued for $13m by his family Thousands of unauthorized vapes are pouring into the US despite the FDA crackdown on fruity flavors Drugmaker lobbying group sues over plan to negotiate Medicare drug prices

Alabama's governor has set a special session for lawmakers to redraw congressional maps that the nation's high court declared unfair to Black voters

For a brief moment last month, an image purporting to show an explosion near the Pentagon spread on social media, causing panic and a market sell-off. The image, which bore all the hallmarks of being generated by AI, was later debunked by authorities.

A US envoy for Iran met on Friday with the family of Iranian-German national Jamshid Sharmahd, who has been imprisoned and sentenced to death in Iran.

Melanie Schmid grows walnuts and keeps sheep at her organic farm by the cliff's edge above the port of Mukran on the German island of...

From Sunny Hostin to Joy Behar, 'The View' hosts brutally slam Senator Tommy Tuberville over his 'ignorant' remark

Footage of the moment a car crashed into a garage where a girl was sitting on Thanksgiving has gone viral. Sometimes near-misses need to be caught on camera to be believed because they are so unlikely. That was certainly the case for one woman who had a lucky escape when she was smoking and crying in her garage on Thanksgiving, just as a car crashed into it. X/Twitter user @littoladyluck shared unbelievable footage of a car accidentally reversing into her garage as she was filming a video. Two different clips showed what happened from inside the garage where she was “chilling” and from outside the garage as the accident occurred. In the caption, she explained: “I was chilling in the garage on Thanksgiving crying and smoking by myself listening to Mitski and a car crashed right into it… I can’t make this up.” The first video showed her sitting in her garage when all of a sudden there was a loud crash as the garage door was slammed into. In the second video, taken from an external camera, a white car was reversing and appeared to become out of control as it picked up more and more speed. The car first struck a palm tree that fell down and continued reversing until it struck the garage that @littoladyluck was in. The post has been viewed over 6 million times and viewers were equally shocked and amused by the situation, particularly given that the woman had the clown filter on as she was recording. “Girls aren’t allowed to do literally anything,” one person joked. Another commented: “It’s the filter and the zero survival instinct for me.” Someone else added: “Imagine them using this video as evidence in court.” Thankfully, @littoladyluck appeared physically unharmed by the incident. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.