Above photo: Golda Meir former PM (right) with Nava Arad candidate to lead the Histadrut womens department.
Israel’s largest labor union, the Histadrut, has called a general strike that will start Monday to pressure the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a hostage and ceasefire deal with Hamas.
The decision to hold a strike came after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages who were held in Gaza. “We must reach a deal. A deal is more important than anything else,” said Arnon Bar-David, the head of Histadrut. “We are getting body bags instead of a deal.”
According to Axios, the strike will almost completely shut down the country. Many private sector companies announced they would join the strike, and the Ben Gurion International Airport will shut down at 8:00 am local time.
The news that six more Israeli captives were killed in Gaza sparked major protests demanding a deal with Hamas. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement blaming Netanyahu for their deaths.
“For 11 months, the Israeli government led by Netanyahu failed to do what a government is expected to do — return its sons and daughters home,” the forum said. “A deal for the return of the abductees has been on the table for over two months. If it weren’t for the thwarting [of the deal], the excuses, and the spins, the abductees whose deaths we learned of this morning would probably be alive.”
Netanyahu has been sabotaging the chances of a hostage deal by demanding Israeli control of the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, a condition the Israeli military doesn’t think is necessary. During a security cabinet meeting on Sunday night, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confronted Netanyahu about his demand.
“Continuing to impose constraints such as the decision on the Philadelphi corridor will result in us not meeting the goals of the war. The fact that we prioritize the Philadelphi corridor at the cost of the lives of the hostages is a serious moral disgrace,” Gallant said.
Netanyahu isn’t backing down on the demand, and told Gallant that “after the terrible murder of our hostages, such a step will send a dangerous message to Hamas and will lead to more and more concessions that will endanger Israel’s security.”
A few days before the hostage bodies were recovered, the Israeli security cabinet voted to back Netanyahu’s demand to maintain control of the Philadelphi Corridor. At the meeting on Sunday, Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer said it would be a “grave mistake” to alter that decision.