Local authorities say they’ll join strike: ‘Israel almost at point of no return’

Haim Bibas, the chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, announces that municipalities and local councils will join the general strike along with the Histadrut labor union and medical unions.

“The rift in the people and the tremendous chaos that Israel is in has reached the point of almost no return,” says Bibas, a senior member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party and the mayor of the central city of Modiin.

“We call on the prime minister to stop the legislation immediately and cancel the dismissal of the defense minister, with whom we have working relations in the field of cities’ and home front security,” he says.

The announcement comes shortly after Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David says the “historic” general strike will begin as soon as today if Netanyahu does not announce a halt to the judicial overhaul.

Departures have already been halted at Ben Gurion Airport.