Israel's political factions opposed to embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began setting up negotiating teams Tuesday after he paused a controversial judicial overhaul plan that had triggered unprecedented street protests and a spiraling domestic crisis.

But compromise seemed elusive and Netanyahu's legacy was on the line in a standoff over the fundamental issue of what kind of country Israel shoule be — and positions only appear to have hardened. Three months of demonstrations against the overhaul plan intensified this week and Israel's main trade union declared a general strike, leading to chaos that shut down much of the country and threatened to paralyze the economy.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposed judicial overhaul has unleashed the most intense social unrest in Israel in decades.

Tens of thousands of people have repeatedly taken to the streets against the plan — including spontaneous mass demonstrations that erupted across the country late Sunday after he fired his defense minister for questioning the overhaul.

Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow was sitting in Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's conference room at the Pentagon, listening to him make the case that Saddam Hussein was hiding weapons of mass destruction.

At some point in the presentation — one of many lawmaker briefings by President George W. Bush's administration ahead of the October 2002 votes to authorize force in Iraq — military leaders showed an image of trucks in the country that they believed could be carrying weapons materials. But the case sounded thin, and Stabenow, then just a freshman senator, noticed the date on the photo was months old.

Iraqi lawmakers passed early Monday controversial amendments to the country's election law that could undermine the chances for smaller parties and independent candidates to win seats in future polls.

The amendments increase the size of electoral districts, a move widely backed by the Coordination Framework, a coalition of Iran-backed parties. The coalition forms the majority bloc in the current parliament, which brought Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to power last year.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers have vowed to meet before the end of the holy month of Ramadan to implement a landmark bilateral reconciliation deal, Riyadh said on Monday.

Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan and his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, held their second phone call in less than a week and discussed "a number of common issues … in light of" the surprise agreement brokered by China and announced on March 10, the officials Saudi Press Agency reported.

Israel's top trade union chief called a general strike Monday over the hard-right government's controversial judicial reforms, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked his defense minister who had called for a stop to the overhaul.

"I am calling a general strike," Histadrut chairman Arnon Bar-David said in a televised address. "From the moment this press conference ends, the State of Israel stops.

Tens of thousands of Israelis have rallied anew in Tel Aviv against a controversial judicial overhaul, as Defense Minister Yoav Galant broke ranks to call for a pause to the government reforms.

The latest demonstration to hit Israel's commercial hub came days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to press on with the changes despite mounting international alarm.

Tehran has condemned U.S. airstrikes on Iran-linked forces in Syria that reportedly killed 19 people, which Washington said it carried out following a deadly drone attack on U.S. forces.

The Iranian foreign ministry late Saturday condemned "the belligerent and terrorist attack of the American army on civilian targets" in the eastern Syrian region of Deir Ezzor.

The death toll from retaliatory U.S. strikes on Iran-linked groups in Syria following a deadly drone attack has risen to 19, a war monitor said Saturday, as Washington insisted it is not seeking conflict with Tehran.

Further rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias took place late Friday, prompting more strikes by coalition warplanes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Israel's attorney general on Friday warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he has violated the Supreme Court's conflict of interest ruling, which barred him from direct involvement in his government's divisive plans for a judicial overhaul.

Netanyahu's far-right government has barreled ahead with plans to weaken the Supreme Court and grant politicians less judicial oversight in their policymaking despite massive protests from across Israeli society — including an uproar among business leaders, top legal officials and military reservists. On Thursday, just hours after his coalition passed a law that would protect the Israeli leader from being deemed unfit to rule because of his corruption trial and claims of a conflict of interest, Netanyahu defiantly pledged to proceed with the overhaul.