STORY: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been expected to make a televized statement on Monday morning announcing the plans, which he says are needed to restore balance to the system of government but that critics see as a threat to democracy, had been suspended. The statement was postponed, however, as Netanyahu met heads of the coalition parties.

Earlier, an official in the ruling Likud party and another source closely involved in the legislation said Netanyahu would suspend the overhaul, which has ignited some of the biggest street demonstrations in Israel's history and drawn a rare intervention by the head of state.