Court shuts down Histadrut strike, accepting government claim it was political
Union boss says he’ll respect ruling, but doesn’t regret move; MKs urge class action suit; some activists protest against strike demanding truce-hostage deal, saying it aids Hamas
A court ordered strikers back to work Monday afternoon, cutting short a labor action aimed at pressuring the government to seal a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza as thousands protested for an agreement nationwide.
Tel Aviv’s labor court ruled that the Histadrut labor federation had until 2:30 p.m. to wrap up a general strike that had shut down government offices and limited access to clinics, banks, public transportation and other services.
The verdict marked a major win for the government, which had sought to shut down the move by the country’s largest union, called a day earlier as Israelis seethed over the discovery of the bodies of six hostages killed by their captors in Gaza — whom many believed could have been saved by a deal that would put a halt to the war in Gaza after nearly a year.
The state and the Tikva Forum, a group of hostage families that has largely backed the government’s prioritization of military action over concessions as means to win the release of hostages, had petitioned the court for an injunction against the Histadrut move, arguing that the strike was politically motivated and unrelated to workers’ rights, and thus illegal.
The court accepted their arguments, rejecting the Histadrut’s stance that the government’s failure to secure a deal was damaging the economy.
In its ruling, the bench noted that “the hostage issue, as well as the murder of the six hostages in recent days, rends all of our hearts.”
Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David said he would respect the ruling, but stressed that “the solidarity strike was an important move and I stand behind it.”
He maintained that the strike had not been championed by only a single political camp, claiming the wide appeal of mass demonstrations Monday had cut across political lines.
“Hundreds of thousands of citizens voted with their feet,” he said. “We proved that with regard to the fate of the hostages there is no right or left, only life or death.”
The labor federation, ordered to respond by noon to petitions by the state and the Tikva Forum, agreed to end the strike at 6 p.m., but the court forced it to finish earlier.
Right-wing politicians in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had argued that the union was playing into Hamas’s hands by pressuring the country to agree to a deal, incentivizing the group to kill more hostages.
“We won’t allow the Israeli economy to be harmed, serving the interests of [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar,” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had ordered the state to petition the court for an injunction.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also welcomed the ruling “to stop the Histadrut’s political strike,” as did MK Gideon Sa’ar, head of the hawkish New Hope opposition party, who said the strike “harms the Histadrut itself.”
Bar-David, whose union represents public sector workers including teachers and sanitation workers, had declared the strike after meeting with hostage families Sunday afternoon. University presidents and the Israel Business Forum, which represents some 200 of the country’s largest companies, joined the strike, as did several large municipalities, including Tel Aviv. The latter strikes are unaffected by the court’s ruling.
The strike came as thousands took to the streets to protest the government’s inability to clinch a hostage release deal, with demonstrators blocking intersections around the country throughout Monday morning, including some of the country’s busiest thoroughfares in the center of Tel Aviv.
Following Bar-David’s announcement, Smotrich accused him of “representing the interests of Hamas” when he should be supporting the country’s economy in wartime.
The state prosecutor, ordered by Smotrich, said in a brief to the court that a strike “to influence the sovereign’s decision, in issues not directly related to work conditions, is forbidden.”
Coalition lawmakers urged suing Bar-David and the Histadrut for damages caused by the strike, and right-wing activists protested against it in Jerusalem and outside Bar David’s home in Kiryat Ono, in central Israel.
MK Yitzhak Wasserlauf of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party called on the government to amend Israel’s class-action legislation to enable citizens to sue the Histadrut for losses due to the strike, arguing that “there is no right to strike when it is a pure national security policy.”
Bar-David “plans to shut down the economy, including Ben Gurion Airport and the education system,” said Wasserlauf.
The labor chief’s actions constitute a “criminal political strike that is against the law, intended to prevent broad security measures promoted by the government and the coalition,” added Wasserlauf, who serves as Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience minister.
MK Zvi Sukkot, also from Otzma Yehudit, posted to X on Sunday a letter from an attorney threatening class action against the Histadrut and a personal lawsuit against Bar-David.
“Nobody gave you or the Histadrut political authority,” read the letter.
Histadrut workers “hail from all of Israel’s populations and factions and you [Bar-David] have no monopoly on their representation,” making a strike “wild and illegal,” it said.
Members of the right-wing Gvura Forum (Heroism Forum) of bereaved families temporarily blocked the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Monday in a counter-protest against the Histadrut strike.
"שביתה במשק זה פרס לחמאס": משפחות שכולות מפורום "גבורה" מפגינות מול משרד ראש הממשלה בדרישה להפעיל לחץ צבאי נוסף בעזה @VeredPelman
צילום: פורום גבורה pic.twitter.com/FoCYDGacXT— כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 2, 2024
Protesters accused the Histadrut of giving “a prize to Hamas” and “encouraging terror” by shutting down the economy.
“All of us need to be together,” one yelled into a megaphone, “against terror and not against the government.”
Ben Gvir, the head of Otzma Yehudit, told the demonstrators the party is “using our power in the government to prevent a reckless deal.”
“With Hamas you need to speak only between gunsights,” he added.
Earlier, several activists from the extremist Noam faction protested Monday morning outside Bar-David’s home in Kiryat Ono, accusing him of helping Hamas.
משתמשים בכוחנו בממשלה למנוע עסקה מופקרת – עם חמאס צריך לדבר רק בין כוונות. pic.twitter.com/l39UV870Cn
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) September 2, 2024
The Histadrut is Israel’s largest and oldest labor federation, representing some 725,000 people — the majority of organized workers in the country.
At a mass protest in Tel Aviv Sunday night to call for a hostage deal, Bar-David said he had concluded “now is the time” to use his power to shut down the economy, due to the government’s “abandonment” of the country’s security, economy and hostages.
The IDF recovered the bodies of six hostages from Gaza over the weekend, shortly after Hamas executed them by gunshot.
The six were among 251 hostages abducted on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people, sparking the war in Gaza.
It is believed that 97 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
