JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday shortened a trip to Berlin scheduled for this week, according to his office, which earlier said he had held consultations 鈥渙n developments in national security.鈥�
The statements did not specify whether the rescheduling and consultations were linked. Nor did they provide further details.
Netanyahu is due to depart for the German capital later on Wednesday. A preliminary itinerary circulated last week said he would return on Friday. But the new statement said he would return on Thursday.
His nationalist-religious coalition government, in power since December, has been beset by unprecedented protests against a planned judicial overhaul. Demonstrators said they would try to prevent him reaching the airport on Wednesday.
Separately, he and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said they have been holding high-level discussions about a national security matter on which Israeli officials have declined further comment.
On Monday, an Israeli motorist was seriously hurt in an explosion on a road near the occupied West Bank, where Palestinian militant attacks have intensified in recent months.
Authorities secured a court order limiting reporting on the incident, which some Israeli media described as a roadside bomb that may have been set off prematurely.