Please tell me how a general strike makes sense.

It took me till the end of writing this article for me to finally see what this strike could have been good for. I am telling you this up front because, if you are like those who read the last page of a novel before beginning at the beginning, you might want to go there first.

For some reason, which only those more intelligent than I am can apparently understand, the deep sadness that clouded our hearts this morning when we learned of the deaths of six well-known hostages led to a general strike in Israel. Not only did we learn of their deaths, but the pathology report revealed that they had been shot at short range a short time before IDF soldiers came across their bodies in a Hamas tunnel in Rafah. The pain is unbearable. The fear for the remaining live hostages (perhaps 50 of the 101 still being held) is unbearable. But a general strike?

I don’t understand how a strike is supposed to bring them home. I heard a school principal saying on the news that his high school is striking until all the hostages come home. He did not say how that is supposed to do the trick.

I would like to suggest an approach that seems more to the point than this:

How about if we hold a hunger strike in front of UN offices, the embassies of France, the UK, Canada, the USA, Germany, and others, saying that we will not eat again until Hamas is pressured to return the hostages?

Naw. That won’t work. They care more about hunger-striking Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails who protest not being able to watch television or shower as often as they want or continue to bake pita in their cell blocks.

They wouldn’t let us turn off the electricity, gas, and water infrastructure in Gaza until Hamas would cave in and return the hostages. I think that was suggested at the start of the war by our government, but the powers that be made us open the Gaza gates to admit tons and tons of fuel, food, and water. Thus satiated, Hamas was not in a hurry to release our hostages. And why should they? They had and have us, Israel, exactly where they want us.

A deal? Well, the world and part of Israel society think that might work. So to press Prime Minister Netanyahu into a deal he says is no deal at all, the Histadrut, Israel’s major labour union, declared a general strike. They do not say how that will bring the hostages back, but they are doing it anyway. Even if I assume that they have a plan and that the strike is pivotal to the plan, let us look at how Haifa announced its strike. It is a masterpiece of confusion. I will add my editorial comments within the body of the announcement. The announcement is in bold font and my comments in italics:

The Municipality of Haifa shares in the heavy mourning of the families of the six abductees who were murdered by Hamas.

As a sign of solidarity with the struggle for the immediate release of all the abductees who remain in captivity, tomorrow (Monday 2.9.24) the municipal offices will be closed and there will be no public reception.

Okay. I can see how closing city hall can be a sign of sharing grief. But how is it a sign of solidarity for the struggle for the release of still-held hostages? Showing solidarity means to me that you actively do something. The posters in clear sight wherever we go in this country is a sign of solidarity, for example. No need to close city hall for that. But, as I said, closing city hall to show grief….that fits.

The kindergartens will be shut down, with the exception of the special education kindergartens, and there will be no after-school classes. The special education schools will operate as usual, including the transportation system.

The elementary and middle schools, including the special education classes integrated in them, will operate until 11:45. The shuttles will be adjusted to this time. The after-school programs in the elementary schools will not operate.

High schools (10th-12th) are closed following the decision of the teachers’ union.

How does closing kindergartens and elementary schools share grief or express solidarity? In age-appropriate ways, the older elementary school kids and certainly middle and high school pupils can have special class-time set aside for discussing the hostage situation and helping them deal with their feelings among their peers rather than sitting at home, probably in front of their screens, alone. I suppose they won’t be alone because some of their parents will be on strike. But will they use this time to discuss the situation? Not likely. Maybe. For a few minutes. Certainly not what can be accomplished in class with a teacher with experience in facilitating discussions on difficult topics.

And closing kindergartens? Keeping preschoolers away from other kids just when they finally had a day of kindergarten after the summer holidays? Sounds more like punishing the kids than anything else — and also a hardship for those parents who do have to work in spite of the general strike.

There will be no urban cultural events tomorrow. Activities in museums, the cinematheque, the municipal theater, the tourism association and concerts – will be stopped and will not take place.

This makes sense as a sign of collective grief. But showing solidarity with families of those still being held? I don’t see it. So just call it what it is — collective grief. It is not going to get any hostages home. If it is, tell me how.

The bathing beaches and “Bnei Zion” hospital will operate as usual.

Here is where I got really confused. Putting beaches and a hospital together in the same point?

Why are the beaches open? That means that the lifeguards will not be striking. But isn’t going to the beach the kind of activity that flies in the face of collective mourning? I just don’t get this one at all unless they know that you cannot keep Israelis away from the beach even for a higher moral good, such as collective grief and showing solidarity, so you better make sure nobody drowns.

How lucky for Haifa residents that the only municipally owned hospital will be totally functional as the other hospitals in town will be operating on Shabbat hours. That likely means that surgeries will be cancelled and other services will not be available. (Tell me how that expresses collective grief or shows solidarity with the hostage families.)

At this difficult time, we wish to embrace the families of the murdered, strengthen the families of the abducted and pray that the soldiers return home.

I cannot see how a general strike that will cost the economy millions of shekels that are needed to support the bereaved families of hostages and soldiers, displaced families, families who have lost their income due to the war, rebuild property damaged by missiles and drones, the huge number of injured soldiers and civilians needing sometimes lengthy rehabilitation, and more.

And instead of just praying for the soldiers to return home safely, Israeli society should be demonstrating our one-ness like we did in the immediate aftermath of Oct 7th. That would be like a prayer — that would give them the support and solid backing that they need as they continue to fight for all of us, instead of coming in from the battle field for a rest only to see how fractured we are.

And here is where I got it — got what could have made this strike a powerful symbol of collective grief AND solidarity with those directly affected by the war, such as bereaved families, displaced families, etc. All those I listed in the previous paragraph:

How about if the strike was declared in order to give the entire nation the opportunity to volunteer — to get together in community centers and restaurants to make sandwiches for soldiers, to organize fruit and vegetable picking teams to help farmers bring in their produce rather than have it rot in the fields, for example. Perhaps you can think of other projects that would have made a strike day something positive rather than just something else for us to argue about.

Oh! That would have been something!