An Israeli court today ordered the premature end of a general strike called by the Histadrut trade union confederation, but not before the labor organization had closed local governments, schools and businesses throughout Israel and disrupted flights in and out of Ben Gurion International Airport for some hours, reported Times of Israel. The strike had been called by Histadrut head Arnon Bar-David to support hundreds of thousands of Israelis who gathered in dozens locations, blocked highways and intersections, demanding the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire that would free the remaining hostages whom Hamas is still holding in Gaza. The court held that the strike was “political” and ordered it shut down.
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 on Sept. 2 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 court was petitioned by members of the government and aligned hostage family groups who claimed the unionists had no right to strike on a political question and who had charged Histadrut of supporting Hamas.
The general strike may have come to an end as ordered by the court, but protests against Netanyahu continued. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, according to the Times of Israel, making “tremendous amounts of noise with hundreds of horns” even as hostage family members spoke to the crowd. “Your decisions are leading to their deaths,” Nissan Calderon, the brother of hostage Ofer Calderon, said, addressing Netanyahu.
Estimates of the number of protesters on Sept 1. ran as high as 300-500,000. On Sunday night, Sept. 1, protesters blocked the Ayalon highway, a major thoroughfare that runs along the coast and through Tel Aviv, for three and a half hours before they were finally cleared by police.