Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 11.08.2025
Yarden Ben-Gal Hirshhorn, in The Marker, writes today about the reasons why there is no one-day general strike, as declared by the families of the Israeli abductees.
He is correct in his prediction that such a general strike will not materialize, but he overlooked the nature of the Histadrut as a state organ that plays a significant role today in representing the labor aristocracy and disseminating Zionist propaganda within trade unions worldwide.
Some centrists who live outside of the real world claim that the Israeli workers are not different from the Palestinian workers and the guest workers. However, they ignore that the Israeli-Jewish workers are a labor aristocracy and a large number of them are supporters of the Likud(and not without a material basis). ‘Socialist struggle” the section of the ISA, for example, ignores the fact that Israel is an apartheid state and the Jewish workers are a labor aristocracy. Their program is for two states, based on the argument that to win the Israeli-Jewish workers, it is necessary to promise them the right of self-determination. This position makes them pro-Zionists and similar to the Mapam party that tried to combine Zionism with Marxism and disappeared from history.
Hirshhorn writes:
“This week began with a demand by abducted families and bereaved parents to shut down the economy again. The shocking videos of Eviatar David and Rom Braslavsky from captivity – along with the reports about the government’s intention to occupy Gaza, and to hell with the abductees, soldiers, reservists, the economy, and the foreign relations of the State of Israel – once again raised the demand to shake the ground and create pressure. Bar-David, the head of the Hisdatruth, announced that he would meet with the families today (Monday). The meeting will be joined by several prominent members of the Business Forum, including Wiesel; Adi Sofer-Thani, CEO of Facebook Israel; and Dov Kotler, former CEO of Hapoalim.
Yesterday, the high-tech headquarters also announced that a number of high-tech companies and venture capital funds, including Wix, Meta, Fiverr, and Honey book, will allow their employees to join the strike.
But a full shutdown on August 17 is still in doubt – and there are three main reasons for this:
1. Time-limited “political” protest
The Histadrut also recognizes that it is uncertain whether a time-limited solidarity strike will have a lasting impact on government policy. This message has been conveyed to the families of the abductees, but there is still a willingness on the part of the Histadrut to listen to the families and understand how they can help their struggle, financially or in any other way.
The main problem is the fact that such a strike will be limited in time, and the Histadrut cannot declare a general strike in the economy until the hostages are returned and the war ends. Last time, too, the Labor Court decided, within a few hours of the strike’s start, that the Histadrut must halt it, because the strike did not focus on labor relations. Therefore, even if it is decided to use the strike tool in this context, it will be limited and short, since the Histadrut – unlike the government – respects the court’s rulings.
Legally, the Histadrut has a mandate to shut down the economy when it tries to achieve goals in collective bargaining over working conditions, usually an employer, which can also be the government. The strike, intended to protest the government’s policy in Gaza, lacked the economic component necessary to allow the Histadrut to strike legally and gain legitimacy from the court. In the event of such a strike, the workers are also not entitled to protections, as it will not be followed by a collective agreement that would anchor wage refunds for the strike days. Bar-David remembers the judgment in the matter from September 2024 well, and this may be one of the reasons why he will not be in a hurry to repeat this move.
2. Risk of Loss of Legitimacy
After the previous strike, the government attempted to demonstrate that civil servants were on its side – and that many of them did not participate in the strike, despite the Histadrut’s decision. Presumably, the situation will be similar this time, and the government will arrive at the event armed with messages about the failure of the move (even if it succeeds), which will trickle down.
The decision to embark on such a strike, on a core political issue, endangers the Histadrut in a situation in which it will be exposed in its nakedness, that the representative organization of state employees will not succeed in shutting down all of the civil servants, because they will be supporters of the government’s policy. A picture in which public sector workers come to work en masse, against the will of the Histadrut, could undermine its power vis-à-vis its functionaries, and therefore also its original role: to represent the workers.
Bar-David has often spoken out against government policy: he protested against the legal coup d’état and the dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant; He threatened a strike in the economy if the dismissal of the former head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, was carried out against the High Court’s decision; He said again and again that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should take responsibility for the state of the country and resign.
However, the ruling party has many branches within the Histadrut and among the civil servants (80% of the labor force). Many of the chairmen of the workers’ unions are members of the Likud. In recent years, Bar-David himself has boasted that the Histadrut is non-partisan and no longer affiliated with any one party. When he decides to shut down the economy on a political issue – which is directly related to the government’s foreign and security policy – he runs the risk that the people under him, as well as the workers themselves, will not cooperate. That they would carry out a political act themselves, as a response to the ostensible political act that the Histadrut would lead. Bar-David will not be in a hurry to take this risk.
3. Popular Protest – Without an Institutionalized Component
This is where the Business Forum comes in, and all the citizens who do not need court approval to strike. The families of the abductees want to bring the Histadrut and the business sector – including the Business Forum – into their protest in order to enable a widespread popular protest. In their estimation, without this institutional support, it will be difficult to make a significant impact on the economy and influence decision-makers.
The Business Forum often expresses opposition to government policies, and comes to the current discussions about the shutdown boiling. Just last week, he issued a statement saying that “red lines have been crossed by the government,” in the context of the dismissal of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the dismissal of the chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuli Edelstein. “Government ministers speak out against respecting the High Court’s orders, and the prime minister does not stop them,” the forum said. “This is crossing a line – the results of which we will not cooperate.”
In contrast to the Histadrut, the Business Forum is composed of private businesses, and it can shut down its members’ businesses as it pleases. But in the end, it is an economic business, and even Wiesel himself, who rarely criticizes the government, is reluctant to close stores, especially in August, when families and children visit the shopping centers and pour record-breaking amounts of money there.
The families of the abductees, for their part, are already at a loss. For two years, they have been doing everything, flying around the world, sailing on flotillas to Gaza, reaching the Oval Office – and their relatives are still languishing in captivity. Netanyahu and his ministers are trying to make the issue of the abductees look like a political issue and take it as far out of the consensus as possible. Just last week, Netanyahu said that the polls showing that most Israelis want to see the abductees at home and the war ending are “engineered.”
The families understand that in order to create a large, shaky popular protest, they need the heavy cannons, but they are working against government ministers who violate Supreme Court decisions, call for the erasure of Gaza in front of foreign interviewers, and spit in the face of reservists with evasion laws. Even when all these cannons are roaring, this government sleeps well at night” [i]
Exchange all Palestinian political prisoners for all the Captive Israelis!
Bring an end to Netanyahu’s corrupt war criminal government!
No illusion in any Zionist party or government!
For the constituent Assembly, including the Palestinian refugees!
For a government of the workers with the support of the Fellahin!
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.haaretz.co.il/tmr/allnews/2025-08-11/ty-article/.premium/00000198-93eb-d50b-a398-9ffb28f00000