. . HUMAN RIGHTS . .
An article by Jake Johnson from Common Dreams
Workers across Israel walked off the job and took to the streets on Monday to protest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to a cease-fire and hostage-release deal after Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six people who were held captive by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Teachers, local government employees, transit workers, and others took part in the strike, which halted departures from Israel’s largest airport, shut down universities and shopping malls, and disrupted the flow of traffic as outraged Israelis blocked roads.
Israelis gather in the center of Tel Aviv on September 2, 2024 to demand a hostage-release agreement. (Photo: Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The strike was called by Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union. Arnon Bar-David, the union’s chairman, said ahead of the action that “this is not a matter of right or left; it is a matter of life and death.”
“All the heads of the security establishment support the deal, and it is the government’s responsibility to bring our hostages home,” he continued. “It is inconceivable that our children will not return because of narrow considerations and interests.”
Yair Lapid, Israel’s opposition leader, expressed support for the strike, saying that “Netanyahu and the cabinet of death decided not to save” the six hostages whose bodies were recovered from Rafah. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Sunday that Hamas fighters killed the hostages, including Israeli American Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Hamas said in a statement that “we hold the criminal terrorist Benjamin Netanyahu and the biased American administration responsible for the failure of the negotiations to stop the aggression against our people and to release the prisoners in an exchange.”
“We also hold him fully responsible for the lives of the prisoners who were killed by his army’s bullets,” Hamas added.
The IDF’s announcement Sunday intensified the fury that hostages’ families and much of Israeli society have directed at Netanyahu, who has repeatedly sabotaged cease-fire talks with hardline demands in recent weeks. Israeli officials believe around 100 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza, including roughly 35 who are believed to be dead.
At least some of the hostages have been killed by Israeli forces. In April, Hamas released a brief video in which Goldberg-Polin appealed to the Netanyahu government for a cease-fire agreement and said at least 70 hostages had been killed in IDF attacks.
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How can war crimes be documented, stopped, punished and prevented?
How can a culture of peace be established in the Middle East?
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B’Tselem, an Israeli advocacy organization, said in a statement Sunday that “the six Israeli hostages whose bodies were recovered from Gaza this morning could have been saved if the Israeli government had heeded the pleas of their families and the Israeli public to reach a cease-fire and an exchange deal.”
“The Israeli government places no value on human life—whether of its Gazan subjects or of its own citizens,” the group added.
Labor unions in the United States—Israel’s main ally and weapons supplier—expressed solidarity with Israeli workers who walked off the job Monday, with American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten applauding “this action to halt Israel’s economy to send a message to the Netanyahu government to end this war.”
“We are devastated by the murder of the six innocent hostages by Hamas, young people, most of whom were at the Nova dance festival,” said Weingarten. “But it is unconscionable that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has refused to seal a cease-fire deal with Hamas that would bring the hostages home and end the humanitarian crisis of Gaza. We have called for an end to this war since January. In Netanyahu’s obstinance, he has refused to listen, even to his own military and security experts.”
The strike kicked off amid reports that the U.S. “has been talking to Egypt and Qatar about the contours of a final ‘take it or leave it’ deal that it plans to present to the parties in the coming weeks,” according to The Washington Post.
“Biden officials said it was not immediately clear whether the discovery of the six hostages would make it more or less likely that Israel and Hamas could come to an agreement in the coming weeks,” the Post added.
Drop Site’s Jeremy Scahill noted Sunday that “rather than insisting on upholding what [U.S. President Joe] Biden said was Israel’s own proposal in May, the U.S. has appeased Netanyahu’s efforts to allow an indefinite presence of Israeli forces in Gaza and an open-ended campaign of military attacks.”
Update:
The chairman of Histadrut, Israel’s largest trade union, instructed workers to return to their jobs following an order by an Israeli court to end the general strike on Monday afternoon.
(Editor’s notes:
In a related development on August 31, “in Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of demonstrators, including relatives of those held hostage in Gaza, gathered at the Hostages Square for a rally demanding their loved ones’ return and pled with the prime minister and negotiating team to reach an agreement before time runs out.”
A list of businesses affected by the general strike has been published by the Times of Israel.)
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