The Arab-Israeli sector held a major strike across Israel and the West Bank on Tuesday to express solidarity with the residents of Sheikh Jarrah in east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
The strike was called by the Arab High Monitoring Committee, in response to “the war and attack on the Palestinians in Jerusalem, on Sheikh Jarrah and al-Aqsa Mosque.”
The committee’s terms for the strike called for an end to the “massacre” in the Gaza Strip, the aggression in Jerusalem flashpoints such as al-Aqsa and Sheikh Jarrah, and the immediate withdrawal of right-wing Jewish “settler gangs” and police forces from Arab cities and villages. The strike also called for a show of solidarity with those detained during the countrywide rioting.
The strike itself encompassed the entire Arab work sector, with the exception of the private education system and the Arab health sector.
Arab activists campaigned throughout the morning, asking people not to go to work in order to support the strike. Public transportation was disrupted throughout the country, and the Transportation Ministry worked to reduce the impact as much as possible.
While most of the medical sector declined to participate in the strike, choosing to hold a peaceful protest at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa at midday instead, around 1,500 medical workers were absent from work today, according to the Health Ministry.Most of them were absent due to transportation issues and the threat of danger not because they identified with the cause, however.
Dr. Ias Awada, a medical doctor at Rambam Health Care Campus, called on his colleagues to come to work, saying that the healthcare system could not afford to strike.
“The healthcare system has a unique complexity to it, and must not be dragged into political situations,” said Awada. “The health care system has repeatedly demonstrated, in every crisis, its ability to maintain the delicate fabric of our society, and should serve as an example to the general public.”
The strike has been both contested and supported by various members of Knesset.
Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman tweeted her support for the cause, saying that “the Arab public showed unity in their hopeful struggle this morning.”
Meanwhile, head of Otzma Yehudit Party Itamar Ben-Gvir called for the Health and Transportation ministers to “fire the striking workers that identify with terrorism.”השביתה עובדת!ברחובות הישובים והערים הערביות מרגישים הבוקר את ההתגייסות של הציבור לשביתה במחאה על המתקפה על עזה וההסתה המתמשכת. הציבור הערבי מראה הבוקר אחדות מאבק מעוררת תקווה.
— MK Aida Touma-Sliman (@AidaTuma) May 18, 2021
In his letter to the ministers, Ben-Gvir demanded that all employers be issued with unequivocal instructions making it clear that “an employee who does not come to work due to the strike is a supporter of terrorism, and must be summoned to a hearing before his (or her) immediate dismissal.”
He also said that if the strike is not dealt with immediately, it will cause a national disaster.
Also commenting on the ongoing tensions was Shas MK Moshe Arbel, who said that “the Arabs of Israel are not going anywhere, and neither are we – we know, we need, and live with, each other.”
While it is illegal for an employee to be fired for participating in a strike, the case has been argued that as this particular strike was not organized by any labor organization or union, and is instead a political strike, employees may not be protected by labor laws.
Despite this, each case must be treated on an individual basis, as the strikers themselves are protected by workers' rights and are entitled to a fair hearing before a decision on dismissal is reached, and therefore Ben-Gvir’s demand for the immediate dismissal of striking workers will likely be largely ignored.
Telecommunications giant Cellcom came under fire earlier in the day after it shut down services for an hour in solidarity with the strike.
“When rockets fell on innocent civilians you didn’t strike,” one user said in protest of their decision, with another announcing their decision to cancel their plan, saying: “I am disconnecting from a service that supports our enemy.”
The Gush Etzion Regional Council announced their decision to terminate their contract with Cellcom, and to find an alternative service provider instead, saying that Cellcom clearly exist in a “fantasy reality.”
Cellcom released a statement saying that they were participating in a “call for coexistence,” and that they will “continue to act, serve and strengthen the IDF and all the residents of the country in these difficult days and work for the coexistence and joint work of Jews and Arabs at Cellcom.”
Meanwhile, IDF soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Shaked Battalion foiled an attempted terror attack near the Jewish apartment complex in Hebron known as “Avraham Avinu” on Tuesday morning.
A Palestinian man was reportedly caught with improvised explosives, a Carlo submachine gun and a knife as he approached a roadblock across the street from Avraham Avinu that separates the Palestinian and Israeli areas of the city.
As he approached soldiers at the checkpoint, the man tried to shoot and hurl the explosives, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said. One of the explosives ignited and blew up while it was still in the terrorist’s hand.
The IDF fatally shot the attacker before he could harm anyone. It is unusual for a terror attack in recent years in Hebron to involve multiple weapons and to take place so close to a Jewish apartment complex.
The man was reportedly affiliated with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Also on Tuesday afternoon, two soldiers were wounded in a shooting attack near Ramallah in the West Bank, the IDF reported.
The soldiers were injured near a protest of 1,200 people at Givat Hatank, near the northern Dead Sea, when one rioter reportedly opened fired in their direction. Other members of the IDF troops in the area responded to the attacker with live fire.
The injured soldiers were evacuated from the scene for medical treatment in a nearby hospital.Police Chief Kobi Shabtai spoke in Lod on Tuesday evening regarding the ongoing violence."We will prosecute the terrorists on both sides," he said, referencing the violence being carried out across the mixed population cities by both Jews and Arabs alike.Public Security Minister Amir Ohana responded to Shabtai's comments, calling it an "outrageous statement," and saying that "there are no parallels between the two sides."
According to reports from the Red Crescent, 41 people were injured in riots in Sheikh Jarrah and by Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. The riots were in response to a call from Fatah encouraging West Bank residents to confront Israeli security forces, and as a result multiple demonstrators clashed with Border Police forces, throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks throughout the afternoon and evening, said police. Protests also occurred at other locations across the country with police saying that some disturbances occurred but that they will work to allow people to demonstrate within the confines of the law.
Zachary Keyser contributed to this report.