From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 23, 2025
Yad Vashem workers strike over wage dispute
Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.
Employees at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum are striking today to protest what they describe as the Treasury’s withdrawal from a negotiated wage agreement.
A union of 400 workers says it is the first full-day strike in the institution’s history. The site remains open to visitors despite the strike, Yad Vashem notes.
Workers accuse the Finance Ministry and Yad Vashem management of backtracking on a pay-raise deal reached after seven years of talks. According to union representatives, the average Yad Vashem salary is 72% lower than the public-sector average, with many staff earning under NIS 9,000 ($2,723) a month.
“Employees who have devoted their lives to preserving the memory of the Holocaust are being treated with contempt,” says workers’ committee member Yiftach Meiri. “This is a moral failure by the state.”
Yad Vashem says in response that 95% of the new collective agreement has already been finalized, offering “significant wage increases” for the next five years. The institution expresses regret over the strike, calling the remaining disputes “bridgeable.”
The Times of Israel Community.