Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 11.08.2025
The Histadrut announced today (Monday) that it will not join the strike on Sunday, but will allow workers to participate in protest events against the expansion of fighting in the Gaza Strip. In a meeting with the families of the abductees and senior officials in the business sector, Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David expressed concern that the shutdown of the economy would divert the public discourse around the return of the abductees in political directions. “If I had known that a strike would lead to an end to the war and the return of the hostages, I would have gone for it with all my might. Even though my heart is bursting with nerves, it’s futile,” he said. The chairman of the Histadrut pledged at the meeting that he would call on the management and workers’ committees “to allow all workers who are interested in participating in the protest events and the solidarity rally to act according to their hearts’ desires, without harming their rights as workers.” In addition, Bar-David and senior officials from the business sector pledged to help direct resources for the continued activity of the Families Headquarters, and to make available to the Headquarters and the families the Director General of the Workers’ Union Division.
At the end of the meeting, Einav Tsengaucker called on the public to shut down the economy on Sunday. “From now on, it’s up to us, the people. Only we will return Matan and all 49 abductees in a comprehensive and feasible deal, only we will end this damn war. On Sunday, we start stopping the country, we can’t do anything else. We have to stop the madness of this government.”
The families’ headquarters said after the meeting that it was time to strike and take to the streets. “50 hostages have been languishing in Hamas’s death tunnels for 675 days. We hoped that the other side would listen, but the cry of 80% of the Israeli public that wants to bring everyone back in one deal and end the war falls on deaf ears,” the headquarters said in a statement. “Hundreds of thousands of businesses, high-tech companies, organizations, and citizens have already joined the strike.”
It is true that the war must be ended, and the call for an end to the war must be supported. But the Israelis, as long as they are captives of Zionism, are Netanyahu’s captives. Only the Arab Revolution or a massive defeat for Israel will persuade some of the Zionists to break free from the shackles of Zionism.
The solution is one that could have been materialized already in 1948. A Palestinian state from the sea to the river with cultural and religious rights for the Jewish minority after the return of the Palestinian refugees, but the working class would rule this state with the support of the peasants and the masses of Palestinian refugees who would return to their country.