Arnon Bar-David, chairman of the Histadrut labor federation announced today that it is calling for a general strike on Sept. 2, after the bodies of six Israeli hostages were found murdered in a tunnel in Gaza. Histadrut leaders will meet with family members of hostages, as anger exploded against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his failure to get a hostage deal and save the hostages.
One of those killed is Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a 23 year-old with joint U.S.-Israeli citizenship. His parents made an emotional appeal for a hostage deal at U.S. Democratic National Convention. Haaretz reports that many Israelis blame Netanyahu for the deaths, and there is a deepening split growing between him and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) leadership.
Histadrut’s Bar-David told a press conference: “We must stop the abandonment of the hostages…. I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken.
