Arab municipalities and educational institutions in Israel went on strike Thursday morning, November 19, to protest the government’s decision to declare the northern branch of the Islamic Movement an illegal organization. The strike has almost completely shut down the official institutions of the Arab local authorities, including schools, according to reports by the respective mayors and heads of local councils. In a number of large Arab cities, including Nazareth, Rahat, Um el-Fahem, Kafr Qassem and Sakhnin, many businesses, especially those on the main streets, have closed in solidarity with the strike.

Higher Arab Monitoring Committee Chair Mohammad Barakeh (Photo: Al Ittihad)

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee declared the strike in response to Tuesday’s security cabinet decision to outlaw the northern branch of the Islamic Movement. Former Hadash MK and Higher Arab Monitoring Committee chair Mohammad Barakeh told Haaretz Thursday that the strike is intended to send a message to the Israeli government to revoke the ban on the Islamic Movement’s northern branch.

On Wednesday evening, the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee published a call for the Arab public to strike, saying the protest is not only directed against the decision to outlaw the organization but also against the government’s policies toward the Arab population of Israel at large. The committee called the security cabinet’s decision a symptom of the general policy of silencing and politically persecuting all Arab political movements and parties and their representatives.