The largest since the start of war, the protests and strike are the latest outpouring of anger against PM Netanyahu for failing to reach a ceasefire. Protests have erupted across Israel, accompanied by a general strike, after the recovery of six bodies of captives held by Hamas and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war on October 7. Despite Israel’s military saying the captives were killed by Hamas shortly before Israeli soldiers reached them, the outpouring of public anger has focused squarely on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his cabinet’s repeated failures to finalise a ceasefire that might see the captives return home.
How big is this? Very big. On Sunday evening, about 300,000 people took to the streets, closing down roads and demanding the government change its course of action to save the remaining captives still in Gaza, who are estimated to number 100. And on Monday, Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union — it represents about 800,000 workers — called a one-day general strike. It was backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector. As a result, large parts of Israel’s economy were shut down for several hours before a labour court ordered protesters to return to work at 2:30pm (11:30 GMT).
Who joined the strike? Ben Gurion International Airport, Israel’s principal international gateway, was shut down from 8am (05:00 GMT) until the strike was called off. In 2023, 21 million people landed at or flew from the airport. The Israel Business Forum, which represents most private sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies, joined the strike as did large companies from Israel’s tech sector, such as Wix, Fiverr, HoneyBook, Playtika, Riskified, AppsFlyer, Monday.com, AI21 Labs and Lemonade. The Manufacturers Association of Israel followed, accusing the government of failing in its “moral duty” to bring the captives back alive, and the Israel Bar Association’s director, Amit Becher, called on “all lawyers to go on strike”. Hospitals and health clinics operated at lower capacity, but the Magen David Adom — the national medical, disaster, ambulance and blood service — functioned normally. The Israel Electric Corporation and the Mekorot water company also worked at lower capacity during the strike, but fire and rescue services operated normally. Many government and municipal offices were also shuttered on Monday. Those included Tel Aviv’s municipality, which provides services to the country’s economic hub.
The Teacher’s Union, a branch of Histadrut, said schools from kindergarten to 12th grade would be open only until 11:45am except schools for special needs students. The Association of University Heads said Israel’s research universities would also join the economic shutdown although some scheduled exams would still be held. Leading bus companies – including Egged, Dan and Metropolin – also took part in the strike in addition to Tel Aviv Light Rail and Haifa’s Carmelit underground railway system. Train delays were also reported during the strike.
What’s happening with the protests? Alongside the general strike, Israeli activists working with the family members of captives in Gaza announced that they intend to hold a series of protests nationwide on Monday. According to a statement by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, demonstrators had planned to block important roads and intersections along with entrances to many government and regional offices. This follows Sunday night’s protests, the largest held since the start of the war on Gaza in October, which saw about half a million people pour into the streets. More than 300,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv, which has seen weekly demonstrations for close to a year.
What has been the political response? It has been divided. The far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, submitted an urgent request to the attorney general to order a halt to the strike. Smotrich, who along with far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has been a staunch opponent of a Gaza ceasefire, also directed the treasury not to pay salaries to anyone who joins the Histadrut strike. Netanyahu and Smotrich, who is under European Union scrutiny for potential sanctions, had sought an injunction to stop the strike. Smotrich has accused Histadrut chief Arnon Bar-David of “choosing to represent Hamas’s interests” by weakening the Israeli economy.
The Netanyahu government has promised a “strong” response to Hamas, which like many previous occasions has insisted that the six captives were killed as a result of Israeli air strikes.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who has called on the government to reach a deal, backed the strike. He has accused the Netanyahu administration of pushing the country into “the greatest anarchy” and argued the public is showing “incredible control” in the face of mismanagement by the government.
Is there any chance for a ceasefire? The latest round of mediated negotiations in Qatar and Egypt in recent weeks have stalled again amid an exacerbating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and as voices inside and outside Israel accuse Netanyahu of blocking an agreement by presenting outlandish demands to serve his political interests. Key sticking points continue to include Netanyahu’s insistence on not withdrawing from the Philadelphi Corridor, which constitutes Gaza’s southern border with Egypt, and the Netzarim Corridor, the Israeli military route that has cut Gaza in half.
Senior Hamas political official Khalil al-Hayya told Al Jazeera on Monday that Netanyahu is also refusing to release some of the older Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as part of an exchange deal. Israel has yet to confirm or deny this claim.
Comment: This is an “explainer” put out by Al Jazeera. Seems fairly factual without a lot of hidden editorialization. Will this popular resistance to Netanyahu lead to his downfall? Neither the Israeli police nor the IDF are staging mass arrests or beatings of the demonstrators. At least there’s that. I don’t see Netanyahu backing down. That would mean his loss of power and probably his freedom.
The demonstrators aren’t cheering for Hamas. They want them dead probably more than Netanyahu wants them dead. The demonstrators want the remaining hostages back and are not willing to sacrifice them to the Hannibal Directive or to saving Netanyahu’s corrupt ass.
TTG
I despise Netanyahu but he is very good at holding on to power. Maybe at the expense of destroying his country, maybe and the expense of the well being of his people – but he is very good at holding on to power.
Unfortunately the great majority of the assembled protesters in this thread’s photos do not share the sentiments of this courageous 56 yr old Israeli teacher (Ofer Shor) and former soldier of 2 infatidas.
IDF are Mass Murderers: Israeli Teacher From Haifa Sparks Outrage!
(3 min 10 sec).
https://youtu.be/1C8iEQ6sPWQ
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In other news they’ve announced that the Apalachee Georgia HS shooter is a 14 year old student.
To understand this protest,one has to understand the binding of the straps of the Tefillin, or phylacteries.Israel is now beginning to act as one.They are binding the straps.
A reminder of the history of the Jews and egypt
So everyone has forgotten the 2022 election or who those unions supported then?
TTG –
What does the Samson doctrine have to do with Hamas & Gaza & hostages? I thought that was the strategy of using massive nuclear retaliation strikes against a successful invasion by her enemies? At least according to Seymour Hersh’s book. But then Hersh never let truth stand in the way of a good yarn.
leith,
I got it wrong. I was thinking of the Hannibal Directive, the policy of “better dead than abducted.” I’ll change it.
Good article; props to Al Jazeera for being – as TTG says – “fairly factual without a lot of hidden editorialization”.
But “will this popular resistance to Netanyahu lead to his downfall”? IMO, it’s too late for that to matter. Israel is locked into an existential conflict with the Palestinians – and by extension, every country in the region. A “kinder, gentler” approach to expelling Palestinians from “Israel” (scare-quotes for indistinct borders) won’t mollify Palestinians or their supporters, and it won’t reverse the decline of support for Israel in the USA/West.
OTOH, getting rid of Netanyahu really does matter – in the short run – for US electoral politics. The Democratic Party is desperately trying to square the circle, to retain [financial?] support from pro-Israeli “liberals” without alienating millions of “progressive” voters.
The Republican Party has no such dilemma; to them, Palestinians are Bad People, so they [all?!] deserve whatever Israel does to them.
I’m not questioning the sincerity of the people in Israel who are protesting against Netanyahu – he really is a first-class scumbag, so yeah, throwing him out would be a fine thing. Most of the American Jews I know strongly support that effort, and I agree with them.
I just think it’s too late to save Israel.