Yossi Schwartz ISL (The section of the RCIT in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 15.08.2025
Various reformists and centrist organizations have spread a dangerous illusion that, under the current conditions, it is possible to take the Jewish working class in Israel out to demonstration, and even to a general strike against the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. They do not understand that the Jewish working class is an aristocratic class and that an important part of it is controlled by the Likud. To come to these workers and explain to them that the enemy is not the Palestinian people but the Jewish employers, and the Zionist state can end only in one way: a beating.
While the families of the Israeli abductees want to organize a one-day general strike, the Federation of Trade Unions-Histadrut refuses to participate in this strike, on the pretext that it is a political act and not a strike for economic reasons, and therefore, a labor court will order the law-abiding Histadrut to immediately stop the strike.
In a conversation with Ynet, senior economist Prof. Eran Yashiv argues that the main reason why the Histadrut will not join the strike for the return of the abductees stems from political fears: “In his opinion, Bar-David is deterred by the large committees controlled by the Likud, and therefore he makes all kinds of statements, but behind it hides a simple fear of the committees controlled by the Likud. In fact, he perpetuates or exacerbates an existing situation in which a minority part of the population is exploiting resources from everyone. That’s what the government is doing and that’s what it’s doing.”
I believe, he said, that a strike is not only a necessity, but also a genuine civic obligation. This is also justified for economic reasons. There is going to be a very serious blow to the workers in Israel, to the citizens of Israel in general, because there is a combination of two dramatic moves. One is the judicial overhaul that is still going on in full force, and the second is Israel’s policy toward Gaza, which was only exacerbated at the last Cabinet meeting.
To stop the war, the working class in Israel had to organize a general strike without specifying the date of its end, but rather aimed for the overthrow of the government. The problem, of course, is that such a working class exists only in the imagination of the reformists and centrists, since the Israeli working class is incapable of making organizing a general strike against the war even for a single day, since the big unions, such as the workers of the ports, the manufacture of weapons, support the war and they are supporters of the Likud.
So far, even the union “Power to the workers” which was organized as an independent Trade Union, has not announced that it will join the strike. Thus the reason that the Israeli trade unions do not act against the genocide is the nature of the Jewish Israeli workers. It is an aristocratic class.