Israel’s main union calls for strike as pressure mounts for hostage deal
Israeli flag (Photo: Reuters)
The head of Israel’s largest labor union called a general strike Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to release Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Thousands of protesters took to the streets.
The call for a one-day general strike by Arnon Bar-David, whose Histadrut union represents hundreds of thousands of workers, was supported by Israel’s leading manufacturers and high-tech entrepreneurs.
The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel’s economy reflects the scale of public anger over the deaths, announced on Sunday, of six hostages among some 250 people captured by Hamas militants on October 7 last year.
“We need to make a deal (on the return of the surviving hostages). A deal is more important than anything,” Bar-David told a news conference. “We get body bags instead of a deal.”
Israel said earlier it had recovered the six bodies from a tunnel in southern Gaza, where they were killed shortly before Israeli forces reached them.
Ben Gurion Airport, Israel’s main air transport hub, will be closed from 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) on Monday, he said. Municipal services in Israel’s economic hub Tel Aviv will also be closed for part of Monday.
The Israeli Manufacturers Association said it supported the strike and accused the government of neglecting its “moral duty” to bring the hostages back alive.
“Without the return of the hostages, we cannot end the war, we cannot rebuild ourselves as a society, and we cannot begin to rebuild the Israeli economy,” said Ron Tomer, head of the association.
Israeli opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid had previously expressed his support for the strike.
PROTESTS
Thousands of protesters blocked roads in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv on Sunday and demonstrated in front of Netanyahu’s residence.
According to the Hostages Families Forum, which represents the families of some of the prisoners in Gaza, the deaths of the six were the direct result of Netanyahu’s failure to reach an agreement to stop the fighting and bring their loved ones home.
“They were all killed in recent days after surviving nearly 11 months of abuse, torture and starvation in Hamas captivity,” the group said in a statement.
Gil Dickmann, a cousin of Carmel Gat, whose body was among the returned victims, urged Israelis to put pressure on the government in a post on the social media platform X.
“Take to the streets and close the country until everyone comes back. They can still be saved,” Dickmann wrote.
There are still 101 hostages being held in Gaza, though Israel believes a third are dead. Netanyahu and many hardliners in his government, as well as their supporters, remain opposed to any hostage deal that would free militants from Israeli jails and help Hamas rise to power.
Aerial footage showed Tel Aviv’s main road blocked by protesters holding flags with photos of the slain hostages.
Shiri Elbag, whose daughter Liri is being held by militants in Gaza, told Israel’s Channel 12 that she was moved by the protesters but also saddened that it took this event to bring them out en masse.
“It is true that (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar is the murderer, the father of all murderers, but ultimately Liri and I are citizens of Israel and I appeal to Benjamin Netanyahu – it is his responsibility and his job to bring them home,” Elbag said.
Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose daughter Romi is being held by Hamas in Gaza, said: “Hostages are being killed because of military pressure.”
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First publication: 01 Sep 2024 | 23:44 IST