From the Liveblog of
Sunday, September 1, 2024
Lapid urges general strike, calls for special Knesset session to discuss hostage deal
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid joins calls for a general strike and a special Knesset session to discuss a ceasefire-hostage deal, following the IDF’s announcement that it has recovered the bodies of six captives in Gaza
In a statement, the Yesh Atid party chief calls on “the Histadrut and the employers and the local authorities to shut down the economy,” arguing that “the country is collapsing” and “cannot go on like this.”
“They were alive. Netanyahu and the death cabinet decided not to save them. There are still live hostages there, a deal can still be made. Netanyahu is not doing it for political reasons,” Lapid alleges, claiming that the prime minister was prioritizing preserving “the coalition with [far-right ministers Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben Gvir over the lives of our children.”
“I call on every citizen whose heart is broken this morning to come at seven [in the evening] to Begin [Road in Tel Aviv] to demonstrate with us,” he says.
Lapid’s statement comes after the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called for a general strike to protest the lack of a deal to free the remaining hostages, backed by the Israel Business Forum, which represents most private-sector workers from 200 of the country’s largest companies.
In a letter to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana (Likud), Lapid demands an “urgent” plenum session on Monday in order to hold a discussion “with the participation of the prime minister on the issue of the obligation to reach a hostage deal in order to save the hostages who are still alive.”
“Their deaths could have been avoided. It was possible to reach a deal. There is a majority for such a deal among the people, there is a majority for such a deal in the Knesset,” he states.
The Knesset is in recess and a regular plenum session would require the support of 25 lawmakers. Requiring Netanyahu to attend requires 40 lawmakers’ signatures.
