Flights at Israel's largest airport have partially resumed after being suspended for nearly four hours after the largest trades union in the country called for a general strike

Departures at Ben Gurion Airport were disrupted amid widespread chaos in the country as protesters took to the streets to demonstrate against the government’s controversial judicial reforms.

The head of the workers union, Pinchas Idan, announced an immediate halt to departures and the announcement came within minutes of the head of the Histadrut – the national trade union- declaring a “historic” general strike in an attempt to “stop the madness” of the government’s judicial overhaul.

Union head Arnon Bar-David said the strike would begin as soon as today if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not signal a discontinuation of the judicial overhaul, which seeks to change the makeup of the nine-member judicial committee that selects judges.

“We are all worried about Israel’s fate,” Arnon Bar-David said. “Together we say, enough! We have lost our way — this is not about left or right. We can no longer polarise the nation.

“I did everything I could over the past weeks to stop the situation,” Bar-David said but added that the efforts were in vain.

“We are all joining hands to shut down the State of Israel,” he said. “The malls and the factories will close.”

Netanyahu was set to address Israel at 10 a.m. today but delayed his speech amid reports that several members of his coalition were threatening to bring down the government unless judicial reform efforts were discontinued.

Last night thousands of Israelis took to the streets en masse to protest Netanyahu's firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant after he called for pause on the reforms.

Netanyahu's embattled government has come under fire from figures in Israel as well as the diaspora over the controversial reforms which some argue make Israel's government less democratic.