The head of Israel’s largest trade union, the Histadrut, vowed Sunday to “shut down” the country’s economy as protesters demanded a ceasefire in Gaza.
It has been nearly a year since Hamas carried out the deadliest Palestinian militant attack in Israel’s history, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 hostages on October 7, 2023. Israel then launched a military operation in Gaza that left more than 40,000 Palestinians dead and ruined the area’s infrastructure.
On Sunday morning, Israel announced that it had recovered the bodies of six hostages, sparking an outcry among Israelis who believe that a ceasefire agreement is the only way to secure the release of the remaining hostages. Israel now estimates that 101 hostages remain in Gaza, 35 of whom are believed to be dead. More than 100 hostages were freed during a temporary ceasefire in November.
Later Sunday, the Histadrut announced a general strike that would begin Monday, hoping that the major disruption it would likely cause to the Israeli economy, including its banks, health care system and the country’s main airport, Ben Gurion Airport, would prompt the government to reach a ceasefire agreement with Hamas to bring back the remaining hostages.
“I made the decision this afternoon to shut down the Israeli economy starting tomorrow morning,” Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David told a mass rally in Tel Aviv. “I am here to fight so that no one is left behind! Jews do not abandon Jews, what is unclear about that?”
He added: “It makes no sense that our children are dying in tunnels because of political considerations!”
The Histadrut strike will be the first of its kind since Hamas’ initial attack on Israel.
Amir Levy/Getty Images
Joel Rubin, former assistant secretary of state for House affairs in the Obama administration, said Newsweek by telephone Sunday afternoon that the Histadrut strike “could be a new blow” to the Israeli economy, which has already suffered from the ongoing war.
However, the political impact of the strike remains unclear. Rubin explained that the Histadrut is “not at the heart of the ruling coalition’s constituencies. So there is this paradox [the strike] This will have a significant impact on the country’s daily life, but will it have an impact on the direct voters of the ruling coalition? It is not so clear.”
The United States, Egypt and Qatar have been working for months with Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire agreement, but neither side has formally agreed to anything.
Many blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for the total elimination of Hamas, for the failure of the negotiations. For his part, Netanyahu has pointed the finger at Hamas, which is blocking the negotiations, saying that “anyone who murders hostages does not want a deal.”
Asked how much responsibility Netanyahu bears for the deadlock in the negotiations, Rubin replied: “There are two partners in this negotiation,” referring to Hamas and Israel.
He did, however, point to reports of unrest within Netanyahu’s cabinet that could jeopardize a possible ceasefire deal. Netanyahu’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly had an argument with the prime minister on Thursday over Netanyahu’s demands that the Israeli military remain fully deployed on the Egypt-Gaza border.
However, Rubin said that “the blame still lies with Hamas. They started this war.”
Newsweek contacted Netanyahu’s office via an online form and the Histadrut by email for comment Sunday afternoon.
Three of the six hostages recently found dead, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, were due to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July.
“There was a deal on Hersh because he was injured, also on Carmel [Gat, 40] and Eden [Yerushalmi, 24]”, an unnamed Israeli official told Israeli English-language media outlet Ynet on Sunday.
The three other deceased hostages were identified as Alexander Lobanov, 33, Almog Sarusi, 27, and Ori Danino, 25.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a centrist, expressed support for the strike, saying: “They were alive. Netanyahu and the cabinet of death decided not to save them.”
Hope for an imminent ceasefire was also present during the August negotiations.
President Joe Biden said in a statement on August 16 that he had directed his negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, “to present the comprehensive rapprochement proposal presented today, which provides the basis for reaching a final agreement on a cease-fire and hostage release.”
Egypt and Qatar have expressed “strong support” for the proposal, Biden said. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on August 19 that Israel had accepted the proposal.
“The next important statement is for Hamas to say yes, and then in the coming days for all the expert negotiators to come together to work on clear agreements on the implementation of the deal,” Blinken said at a news conference in Tel Aviv.
