Yossi Schwartz ISL ( RCIT Section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 09.11.2025
Hadash, just like socialist struggle, embellishes the Histadrut and attributes to it the character of a workers’ union that can head struggles against the capitalist system in Israel while ignoring the character of the Jewish workers’ aristocracy.
As early as 2023, Moshe Ben Atar writes in Haaretz:
“The Histadrut cannot join the protest against the constitutional revolution because it is effectively controlled by the Likud. Anyone familiar with Israel’s largest workers’ organization knows that its powerful unions are affiliated with the ruling party, sometimes even publicly. Therefore, the call for the Histadrut to join the strike that the protest organizations want to promote next week is not feasible. At most, they will receive a statement from the chairman of the Histadrut, Arnon Bar-David, regarding the need for dialogue and broad agreements, as a kind of lip service, or a tacit agreement to allow the workers to demonstrate. But in general, this system should not be expected to be part of the struggle for the future of democracy.
The best proof that the Histadrut’s powerful workers’ unions are affiliated with the Likud can be seen in the speed with which Knesset member Simcha Rothman’s bill to prevent strikes in essential places and to force arbitration proceedings in the economy was dropped from the agenda. Thousands of Likud members in the Histadrut have ordered the Likud to come down from this tree because it harms them and their power to influence. This week, the unions hosted Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, a member of the Likud, who of course declared that he would not lend a hand to harming the status of workers.”[i]
On the Hadash website on November 4, 2025, against the backdrop of the Histadrut’s corrupt economic relationship with businessman Ezra Gakai, we discover: “The detention of Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David and his deputy, Roy Yaakov, and businessman Ezra Gabbay and his son Assaf Gabbay, has been extended by eight days, the Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court ruled yesterday (Monday). The arrest of Hila Canister Bar-David, Arnon Bar-David’s wife, was extended by eight days. In addition, the court extended the detention of the head of the Histadrut Corporations Authority Shavei Michaeli for seven days, and the detention of businessman Daniel Siegerich by four days.
The hearings on the remand extensions were held after police officers from the National Unit for Fraud Investigations in Lahav 433 arrested and detained dozens of suspects yesterday, including senior officials of the Histadrut, local authorities, companies and government corporations, on suspicion of bribery, fraud and breach of trust, money laundering and tax offenses, the police announced.
Ezra Gabbay, a member of the Likud Central Committee and close to Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar, was suspected in 2002 of committing tax offenses amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels. Gabbay was investigated by the Income Tax Department when the organization conducted audits initiated by insurance agencies. It was suspected that Gabbay had used fictitious invoices amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels. The case was closed with Gabbay confessing to some of the charges and receiving 100 hours of community service. In 2020, Gabbay’s license as an insurance agent was revoked for seven years, which was renewed two years ago.
Although Likud leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have in the past attacked the Histadrut and even its leader, this time they were ordered not to comment on the affair in which party members are involved. On the other hand, the Likud’s junior partner in the right-wing government rushed to take advantage of the Histadrut chairman’s arrest yesterday to harm the workers’ unions. The chairman of the Religious Zionist faction, Knesset member Ohad Tal, submitted a bill last night that seeks to reduce the power of workers’ organizations, led by the Histadrut, and to strengthen the powers of employers and the government. The bill is expected to be discussed in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation in the coming week, with the support of the Religious Zionist faction.” [ii]
However, on November 5 , 2025, Hadash writes:
“Before an indictment was filed against the chairman of the Histadrut. According to the Histadrut’s constitution, the chairman will be obliged to resign if and when he is indicted for an offense involving disgrace. But beyond the criminal aspects that will yet to be clarified, Bar-David’s arrest carries weighty political-class questions.
First of all, Bar-David, who was a member of the Labor Party for many years, has direct ties to capital and the government, especially with the extreme right-wing Likud. Indeed, Bar-David, just like his predecessor-rival Ofer Eini, ran for the head of the country’s largest workers’ organization under the slogan “Histadrut without politics.” But in their actions, Bar-David and Eini proved that this is a Histadrut without class politics, the one that serves the capitalists and the right.
During his tenure as chairman of the Histadrut, Bar-David excelled in a sweeping waiver of workers’ rights, first and foremost the right to life. As an enthusiastic supporter of the war of annihilation in Gaza, he gave the Netanyahu government a free hand to sacrifice the workers on the altar of revenge and occupation. He also gave up on protecting the standard of living of workers and their families. The rising cost of living and the disgraceful exploitation of the war period by capitalists to accumulate unprecedented profits met the Histadrut without teeth. All Bar-David had to offer was an “online supermarket” owned by the Histadrut.
Bar-David also failed in the campaign to protect the democratic spaces that still remain in Israel in the face of the accelerated fascism of the Netanyahu government. MK Ohad Tal’s bill proves the extent to which fascism is connected to the strengthening of capital and the harm to the status of workers. Bar-David failed all the tests described. Therefore, beyond the question of whether his actions have a criminal basis, due to the weakening of the working class and the harm to the interests of the employees, Bar-David must go home. The Histadrut and all workers’ organizations in Israel need a class leadership determined to fight class exploitation, war, occupation and fascism.”
While “Socialist Struggle” writes:
“The Histadrut can and should play a central and leading role in the struggles against government decrees and the cost of living. The Histadrut, for example, should have stood up and given real support to the social protest movement two years ago through organizational measures, organized mobilization to strengthen the demonstrations, and the presentation of an action plan to advance the protest demands – but Eini came out against the demands of the protest and sided with the government of capital.
The power of organized labor was not mobilized in favor of the struggle against the economic decrees surrounding the 2013-2014 budget. Without organizing a single demonstration and trying to exert basic pressure, without provoking a discussion within the Histadrut ranks about how to stop the decrees and the Histadrut’s answer, Eini closed another deal with the Ministry of Finance and volunteered the workers’ money, repeating the Finance Ministry’s “no choice” mantra. and ignores the astronomical tax benefits for large corporations. This deal helped the government pass a draconian decree budget, which cost many families hundreds of shekels a month. At the same time, the lack of minimal resistance encouraged the government to accelerate privatization plans and promote attacks on the strongholds of organized labor against the system[iii].”
Hadash, which claims that it can lead the working class to victory, was proud that on June 30, 2015, she joined Nissenkorn’s anchor list, which was later replaced with Bar David.
“The Hadash faction has joined the coalition in the Histadrut, and its two members, Suheil Diab and Majd Ano-Younis, will be members of the leadership. This was reported this morning in the newspaper Al-Ittihad, following the signing of the agreement between Hadash and Chairman Avi Nissenkorn’s “Anchors” list.[iv] (who until then served as president of the Israel Hotel Association)
“The victory party of the Anchors faction in the Histadrut under the leadership of Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David, 07/07/2022, Tel Aviv Exhibition Grounds. Histadrut – The New Histadrut Arnon Bar-David Chairman of the New General Histadrut “[v]
The Histadrut was never a professional evaporation of the workers, but rather an arm of Zionism.
“Ben-Gurion was looking for ways to unite the Jewish workers in the country while pushing the Palestinian workers out of the country. The Zionist working class was divided among several political groups. As part of this effort, in 1919, when he was still a soldier in the British Army, he founded, and even headed, the Achdut Ha’Avodah party, together with Berl Katznelson and other members. At the end of 1920, when Ben-Gurion was on his party’s mission in Europe, the Histadrut Workers in the Land of Israel was established, which united the entire Jewish working class in the country. Immediately upon his return to Israel, in May 1921, Ben-Gurion joined the leadership of the Histadrut, and at the end of that year he was elected to the organization’s limited secretariat, a position he held until 1935.
Although he was part of the secretariat of three, he was in fact the leader of the Histadrut. (From the press: from the Histadrut Council)
In this framework, he worked to strengthen the authority of the Histadrut and its leadership among the working public. Ben-Gurion also worked with other members, headed by Berl Katznelson, to expand the power of the Labor Movement and the Histadrut within the Zionist movement and in the institutions of the organized Jewish Yishuv in the Land of Israel.
In 1930, Ben-Gurion’s Achdut Ha’Avodah party merged with the Hapoel Hatzair party. The new union was called Mapai – the Workers Party of the Land of Israel. Ben-Gurion became one of the three leaders of the new party – along with Berl Katznelson and Yitzhak Tabenkin – the Workers’ Party and the largest party in the Yishuv and the young State of Israel for decades.
During the 1920s, the power of the Labor Movement and the Histadrut grew within the Zionist and Yishuv institutions, and in 1933 Ben-Gurion was elected for the first time as a member of the Zionist Executive. In that year, when he was the leader of the Histadrut, David Ben-Gurion published the essay “From Status to the People,” and made it clear that he had abandoned the sectoralism of the workers’ movement and the class struggle in favor of a Jewish national identity. There is a similarity between this type of organization and the German Labor Front (German): Deutsche Arbeitsfront, DAF). And many South African trade unions were composed of white workers, often excluding or marginalizing non-white workers. Examples include the Co-ordinating Council of South African Trade Unions (CCSATU), which supported apartheid, and the Trade Union Council of South Africa (TUCSA), which did not accept Black unions due to legal registration requirements.
In the war on GazaSupport for the War Effort: The Histadrut views the conflict as a defensive war initiated by the “atrocities of October 7” by Hamas, which they label a terrorist organization. They have mobilized support for national interests during the crisis, including coordinating volunteers for the agricultural sector and providing support services for affected workers and families
The Histadrut is part of the free trade union federation movement, and is directly affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).
The ITUC is the world’s largest international trade union body and is a key representative of the “free trade union federation” movement, which advocates for democratic and independent trade unions and workers’ rights globally”
It is time to expel it from the ITUC for its support for war crimes
Out with the Histaerut!
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.haaretz.co.il/opinions/2023-02-09/ty-article-opinion/.premium/00000186-3603-d571-a7a7-b607ee3b0000
[ii] https://hadash.org.il/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A9%D7%97%D7%99%D7%AA%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%AA%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%9D-%D7%95/
[iii] https://socialiststruggle.org/maavak/2013/11/%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99
[iv] https://maki.org.il/%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%A2%D7%AA-%D7%97%D7%93%D7%A9-%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%A4%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%91%D7%94%D7%A1%D7%AA%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%93%D7%99/
[v] https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1468648143584458