Israel’s largest labor federation said Monday, August 11, it will not heed hostage families’ calls for a general strike next Sunday against the war in Gaza and to protest the far-right government’s plan to occupy Gaza. Arnon Bar-David tells families Histadrut avoiding general strike out of concern because it “could politicize” the public discourse on the war and the return of the hostages into politics.

“If I knew that a strike — not just for one day but longer — would end the matter, stop the war and bring back the hostages, I would go for it with full force,” says Bar-David. “Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome.”

However, the Israel Bar Association announces that it supports a general strike called for August 1, calling on the lawyers to join suit. Bar Association head Amit Becher urges the country’s large law firms to follow the Bar Association’s lead by allowing employees to miss work on Sunday without having their pay docked.

Protest group rally calls for general strike outside the Histadrut labor federation building in Tel Aviv, August 11, 2025 (Photo: Israel Otzeret)

Haifa University, Ben-Gurion University, Technion, Open University and Tel Aviv University have both declared their intentions to join the strike organized by hostage families slated for Sunday, August 17. “I intend to join the strike, primarily to show solidarity with the pain of the hostages and their families,” Professor Ariel Porat, president of Tel-Aviv University, wrote in his message to faculty and students on Monday.” Also, Academia for Equality, left-wing organization with a membership of more than 1,000 university and college lecturers and professors all over Israel, called on the country to go on a general strike against the war.

In addition, the Hi-Tech Headquarters, which represents hi-tech companies, startups, and venture capital funds, will join a strike initiated by families of hostages. Among the companies joining the strike are large firms like Wix, Fiverr, Fireblocks, Honeybook, and Natural Intelligence, as well as venture capital funds such as Qumra Capital, Pitango, Disruptive, and NFX.

Many of these companies are linked to senior members of the protest headquarters, some of whom have worked together as a group since they began protesting against the far-right government in early 2023.

Hadash MK Ofer Cassif said, “The call by the families of the hostages for a general strike is justified and appropriate. I call on all Israeli workers anyone who holds the values of solidarity, life and mutual responsibility dear to strike with us, to take to the streets, to resist and disrupt against the genocide war in Gaza.”

Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32917