JERUSALEM, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The head of Israel’s biggest labour union called for a general strike on Monday to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to bring back Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, as 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 backed by Israel’s main manufacturers and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.
The alliance of some of the most powerful voices in Israel’s economy reflected the scale of public anger over the deaths, announced on Sunday, of six hostages among some 250 people seized by Hamas militants on Oct. 7 last year.
“We must reach a deal (on the return of the surviving hostages). A deal is more important than anything else,” Bar-David told a press conference. “We are getting body bags instead of a deal.”
Friendly reminder that the majority of Israel is ok with the genocidal campaign going on. This protest is just to prioritize the rescue of the hostages before slaughtering innocent civilians and international aid workers.
Something happened long before October 7th and Israeli society is apparently fundamentally broken. Before October 7th, I had Israelli friends and Palestinian friends and thought I understood that it was a long political impasse but that there were people on both sides that wanted peace. I know there are some on the Israeli side that want peace. I thought it was largely people who wanted peace and hawks in the way. But no. Its largely one voice in favor of genocide, be it fast or slow. I did not understand. I know now that I was wrong. And if those voices persist in Israel, they really need to speak the fuck up.
The whole country was founded on the ideal that they have an entitlement to the land regardless of the native population. There’s no doubt that some Israelis are kind and compassionate towards the Palestinian population, but they were always the minority.
Whoever is downvoting you is an idiot because:
is literally the foundational idea of the political movement Zionism, which led to the founding of Israel.
Its an ethnostate based on the colonial idea that one race or religion should be above others, in a legal/ political sense. In its foundation, Zionism advocated for and conducted violence against Arabs, Europeans, and Jews who resisted the idea of a Zionist ethnostate.
King David Hotel bombing, 1946