Israelis go on day-long protests nationwide as anger over hostages builds

Israelis took part in labor strikes and protests nationwide, their strongest push yet to force Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to agree to a cease-fire with Hamas and secure the release of hostages in Gaza.
 

Some civil servants at government ministries stayed away from offices or took to the streets. Many post offices and bank branches were closed, while Ben Gurion, the country’s main airport, suspended take-offs between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. local time.

In a move led by a forum of Israel’s top 200 business leaders, a number of shopping malls closed, affecting outlets of international brands such as Inditex SA-owned Zara and Nike Inc. Many hi-tech firms shut their offices, including Lemonade and Qumra Capital venture capital fund. 

 

The strike was called by the Histadrut labor federation, though a court order ruled Monday that it should end at 2.30 p.m. “We did not find any economic argument in the announcement on the strike,” the court decision said. 

Anger is rising among Israelis after the bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas on Oct 7 were found in a tunnel in Gaza. They had been executed by their captors, according to Israel. Each was shot repeatedly from short range not long before being discovered, medical examiners said.

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis demonstrated across the country on Sunday, the largest protests since the deadly invasion by Hamas militants that triggered the ongoing war nearly 11 months ago. 

Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the conflict — thereby reducing the chances of early elections that polling suggests he would lose — rather than prioritizing the safe return of the roughly 100 remaining hostages still held in Gaza. Hostilities have spread to the West Bank, another Palestinian territory, and to neighboring Lebanon, threatening to engulf the region in a wider war.

Netanyahu has defended his stance on a cease-fire as necessary to ensure Hamas isn’t able to rearm, and has been steadfast in his ultimate aim of destroying the Iran-backed group. Should Hamas endure, government officials have warned, Israel’s enemies would be emboldened and more hostage-taking could take place in the future. 

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has urged Netanyahu to drop an insistence that Israeli troops remain in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt — a key sticking point in talks with Hamas, two officials told Bloomberg. A security cabinet meeting ended Sunday evening without action on his proposal. 

Netanyahu has “been driven primarily by a desire to retain power with a narrow, very radical messianic coalition in the Israeli government,” said Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, a 36-year-old Israeli-American.

“He’s preferred that, at least to date, over the well-being of all the hostages,” Dekel-Chen said Sunday on CBS’s Face the Nation.

Despite the public pressure, there is no sign Netanyahu is prepared to shift course.

“Those who murder hostages do not want a deal,” he said in a statement on Sunday, warning Hamas: “We will pursue you, we will find you and we will settle accounts with you.”

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will meet Monday with the US team trying to broker a hostage deal, according to the White House. 

The Washington Post reported that the US has been talking with Egypt and Qatar about the outline of a take-it-or-leave-it deal to present to Israel and Hamas after months of deadlock, citing an unidentified senior administration official.

“It is no longer possible to stand idly by,” Arnon Bar-David, the chair of Histadrut, a labor group representing the majority of Israel’s trade unionists, said when calling for the general strike. “This thing — of Jews being murdered in the tunnels of Gaza — is unconscionable and it has to stop. A deal must be reached.”

Israel’s economy has struggled under the weight of war-related policies, growing by 2% last year, almost half the rate the finance ministry expected prior to the outbreak of the conflict. The shekel weakened by 0.7% against the dollar on Monday, though he Tel Aviv Stock Exchange traded slightly higher. 

The slain hostages included a 23-year-old Israeli-US citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin. His parents were among the most high-profile advocates for the abductees, meeting with Biden and other world leaders, and speaking at the US Democratic National Convention to a standing ovation. 

Hamas said the hostages found at the weekend were killed by Israeli bombs.

About 250 people were abducted on Oct. 7 when Hamas — considered a terrorist organization by the US and European Union — stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people. More than 100 hostages were freed during a cease-fire late last year, and about 100 more remain in captivity, including 35 declared dead in absentia by Israel.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.

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