Comments

You have commented 358 times on Rantburg.

Your Name

Your e-mail (optional)

Website (optional)

	My Original Nic Pic-a-Nic Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Foto

Submit your comments on this article

Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Court shuts down Histadrut strike, accepting government claim it was political

2024-09-03

[IsraelTimes] Union boss says he’ll respect ruling, but doesn’t regret move; MKs urge class action suit; some activists protest against strike demanding truce-hostage deal, saying it aids Hamas

A court ordered strikers back to work Monday afternoon, cutting short a labor action aimed at pressuring the government to seal a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
as thousands protested for an agreement nationwide.

Interesting: thousands, not hundreds of thousands. Grom said yesterday that the news stories were off by at least an order of magnitude…

Tel Aviv’s labor court ruled that the Histadrut labor federation had until 2:30 p.m. to wrap up a general strike that had shut down government offices and limited access to clinics, banks, public transportation and other services.

The verdict marked a major win for the government, which had sought to shut down the move by the country’s largest union, called a day earlier as Israelis seethed over the discovery of the bodies of six hostages killed by their captors in Gaza — whom many believed could have been saved by a deal that would put a halt to the war in Gaza after nearly a year.

No doubt a deal would have, had Hamas any interest whatsoever in bargaining in good faith. But they are still determined to make Israel surrender without giving anything up, so there it is. To believe that forcing Bibi to make a deal would result in getting the hostages back alive is somewhere between imbecilic and fighting for the enemy.

The state and the Tikva Forum, a group of hostage families that has largely backed the government’s prioritization of military action over concessions as means to win the release of hostages, had petitioned the court for an injunction against the Histadrut move, arguing that the strike was politically motivated and unrelated to workers’ rights, and thus illegal.

The court accepted their arguments, rejecting the Histadrut’s stance that the government’s failure to secure a deal was damaging the economy.

Histadrut head Arnon 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 Monday 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."

Still claiming numbers not otherwise supported by the evidence…

The labor federation, ordered to respond by noon to petitions by the state and the Tikva Forum, agreed to end the strike at 6 p.m., but the court forced it to finish earlier.

Right-wing politicians in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had argued that the union was playing into Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
’s hands by pressuring the country to agree to a deal, incentivizing the group to kill more hostages.

"We won’t allow the Israeli economy to be harmed, serving the interests of [Hamas chief Yahya] Sinwar," said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who had ordered the state to petition the court for an injunction.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir also welcomed the ruling "to stop the Histadrut’s political strike," as did MK Gideon Sa’ar, head of the hawkish New Hope opposition party, who said the strike "harms the Histadrut itself."

Bar-David, whose union represents public sector workers including teachers and sanitation workers, had declared the strike after meeting with hostage families Sunday afternoon. University presidents and the Israel Business Forum, which represents some 200 of the country’s largest companies, joined the strike, as did several large municipalities, including Tel Aviv. The latter strikes are unaffected by the court’s ruling.

The strike came as thousands erupted into the streets to protest the government’s inability to clinch a hostage release deal, with demonstrators blocking intersections around the country throughout Monday morning, including some of the country’s busiest thoroughfares in the center of Tel Aviv.

Following Bar-David’s announcement, Smotrich accused him of "representing the interests of Hamas" when he should be supporting the country’s economy in wartime. The state prosecutor, ordered by Smotrich, said in a brief to the court that a strike "to influence the sovereign’s decision, in issues not directly related to work conditions, is forbidden."

Coalition politicians urged suing Bar-David and the Histadrut for damages caused by the strike, and right-wing activists protested against it in Jerusalem and outside Bar David’s home in Kiryat Ono, in central Israel.

Members of the right-wing Gvura Forum (Heroism Forum) of bereaved families temporarily blocked the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem on Monday in a counter-protest against the Histadrut strike. Protesters accused the Histadrut of giving "a prize to Hamas" and "encouraging terror" by shutting down the economy.

Ben Gvir, the head of Otzma Yehudit, told the demonstrators the party is "using our power in the government to prevent a reckless deal."

"With Hamas you need to speak only between gunsights," he added.

Earlier, several activists from the krazed killer Noam faction protested Monday morning outside Bar-David’s home in Kiryat Ono, accusing him of helping Hamas.

The Histadrut is Israel’s largest and oldest labor federation, representing some 725,000 people — the majority of organized workers in the country.

At a mass protest in Tel Aviv Sunday night to call for a hostage deal, Bar-David said he had concluded "now is the time" to use his power to shut down the economy, due to the government’s "abandonment" of the country’s security, economy and hostages.

Posted by:trailing wife

#3 ^They've been in school yesterday, too.

Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-09-03 12:59

#2 kids were back in school today in most of Israel

Posted by: Lord Garth 2024-09-03 12:11

#1 Histadrut used to be the largest employer in Israel + a roof organization of trade unions protecting the rights of workers. And then evil Bibi came and turned Israel into a market economy.

Posted by: Grom the Reflective 2024-09-03 10:25

00:00