‘The strike is intended to shut down large sectors of the economy to pressure the government to reach a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal with Hamas.’
By JNS
The Histadrut labor federation, which represents some 800,000 Israeli trade unionists, on Sunday declared a general strike set to commence at 6 a.m. on Monday, shutting down large sectors of the economy to pressure the government to reach a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal with Hamas.
As part of the one-day strike, Ben-Gurion International Airport will cease take-offs and landings at 8 a.m. Public transportation will also be affected.
Pharmacies, hospitals, defense plants, food plants and special education will apparently continue to function.
The Histadrut’s decision came after its chairman, Arnon Bar–David, met with the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, 331 days after the Palestinian terrorist organization’s Oct. 7 cross-border massacre.
“That Jews are being murdered in the tunnels of Gaza is unacceptable and it must be stopped,” Bar-David told reporters at a press conference.
“A deal must be reached; a deal is more important than anything else. I came to this conclusion after talking with many people in Israeli politics and many officers and officials in the security establishment,” he added.
Following the announcement of the impending shutdown, the Im Tirtzu Zionist movement sent a warning letter to Bar-David, threatening to hold him personally legally liable for damages caused by the “illegal” strike.
The Tikva Forum for Families of Hostages, an alternative to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, in a statement called on all Israeli citizens “not to take part in the wild and dangerous strike of the Histadrut.
“The announcement by Arnon Bar–David and his friends of a general strike in the economy tomorrow, while pointing the blame at the Israeli government instead of at Hamas, is a terrible injustice, giving a reward to Sinwar for the murder of the six hostages and a death sentence for the captives who remain alive,” it said, calling on workers to break the strike.
Earlier on Sunday, left-wing politicians blamed the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for Hamas’s murder of six captives whose bodies were recovered over the weekend, with opposition leader Yair Lapid calling for a general strike.
“Netanyahu and the ‘death cabinet’ decided not to rescue the hostages,” Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party stated, urging the Histadrut, employers and local authorities to “shut down the economy. You can’t go on like this.”
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, backed by the Israel Business Forum, earlier on Sunday called for a strike to protest the lack of a deal to free the abductees. The Israel Business Forum represents private-sector employees from 200 of the country’s biggest companies.
The hostages whose bodies were recovered in an underground tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza overnight Saturday were identified as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Almog Sarusi, 25, Alexander Lobanov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Master Sgt. Ori Danino, 25.
Their deaths reduce the number of hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip to 101, with many believed to be no longer alive. A total of 251 people were kidnapped during the Hamas-led invasion on Oct. 7.
One hundred and five hostages, mostly women and children, were released in November as part of a ceasefire agreement, which Hamas broke when it refused to hand over the last group of female hostages, plus two children, and fired a volley of rockets at the Jewish state.