The largest Israeli union headquarters, Hisstadrut, announced plans for a one-day general strike on Monday. The strike is intended to cover a wide scope of sectors including offices, schools and major global airport in Israel. The main nonsubjective of the action is to put force on the Israeli government to enter into an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Histadrutu's chairman, Arnon Bar-David, stressed that "the conclusion of an agreement releasing hostages is more crucial than anything else." He added that the hostages had not yet been released from the "political reasons", at the same time calling for mass participation in anti-government demonstrations to take place on Sunday evening and on Monday's strike.
First general strike since Hamas attack on Israel
Monday's strike will be Israel's first general strike since the Hamas attack on Israel, which took place on October 7, 2023. 1200 people were killed as a consequence of the attack and 251 were abducted. any of the kidnapped are inactive being held by Hamas, and on Sunday morning another six hostages were brought to Israel, who were killed by terrorists.
For months now, there have been regular mass protests in Israel, during which demonstrators request the government to enter into an immediate agreement with Hamas. This agreement would include a ceasefire and the release of the kidnapped. any Israeli public opinion has long accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of stalling negotiations for political reasons, stressing that his utmost right-wing coalitions argue the truce. The demonstrators repeatedly called on Hisstadrut to announce a general strike.
Mass protests in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
On Sunday evening, mass protests are held in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Monday's general strike received support from many key groups and organizations, including a forum bringing together the largest private employers, any local governments (including the Tel Aviv authorities), an association of rectors of Israeli universities and the largest opposition organization is the Future, led by Jair Lapid.
Scope of the strike and planned action
The strike is intended to cover various sectors, including banking, medical institutions and office workers. Traffic at Ben Gurion global Airport in Tel Aviv is expected to be halted from 8 a.m. (hour 7 in Poland). It is presently unclear how long it will take for the airport to halt working, as reported by the Times of Israel portal. Primary schools are to be open until noon, while kindergartens will stay closed. advanced school students will not have classes due to the fact that teachers have been on strike since the fresh school year on pay basis, as reported by the teachers' trade unions.
Criticism of planned strikes
The announcement of mass strikes that could paralyze the country met with criticism from any local governments and the finance minister and leader of the highly nationalist spiritual organization Zionism, Bezalela Smotricz. Smotricz accused the head of Histadrutu of being “in order to service the interests of Israeli workers, he represents the interests of Hamas”. Smotricz is 1 of the ministers who argue any agreement with Hamas.
The general strike announced by Hisstadrut may have far-reaching consequences, both for the Israeli economy and for negotiations with Hamas. The Israeli government is faced with a hard choice of how to respond to protesters' demands, while taking into account national safety and global relations.
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