Israel’s largest companies back hostage families’ call for general strike

The Israel Business Forum, which represents most private-sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies, says it will join the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza as they call on the public to mobilize.

“The forum joins the protest of the headquarters of the families of the hostages and calls on the entire public not to remain indifferent to the abandonment of the abductees when according to the entire security system they could have been saved,” the business forum says in a statement. “Alongside the security chaos, [we are facing] an economic chaos without a reasonable state budget, a strike in the education system, and the collapse of public services.”

“Tonight, there will be an emergency meeting of the forum together with the headquarters and other organizations and more information about the decisions will be released,” the forum adds.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum calls for a general strike as it demands Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take responsibility for the abandonment of the hostages, after six Israeli hostages killed in Gaza were recovered by IDF forces from the Strip.