Tens of thousands of protesters flocked to Tel Aviv and cities across Israel on Saturday to vent their opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government and its divisive plan to overhaul the country's judicial system.

The mass protest ' staged weekly since the start of the year ' comes just ahead of Israel's landmark 75th anniversary celebration. The holiday honoring Israel's founding in 1948, meant to be a display of national unity, has been marred by one of Israel's gravest crises in its history. Plans by Netanyahu's government to weaken the Supreme Court have outraged Israelis who see it as an assault on their country's system of checks and balances and a threat to its very democracy.