Unified front for hostage families: Histadrut and business leaders pledge support

Today (Monday), a meeting was convened between Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar-David, senior representatives of the business sector, and representatives of the families of the hostages.

Among the Histadrut representatives present at the meeting were: Acting Chairman of the Histadrut – Roy Yaakov, Chairman of the State Employees’ Union – Adv. Ofir Elkalaei, Chairman of the Transportation Workers’ Union – Adv. Eyal Yadin, Head of the Department of Public Relations, Spokesperson and Advertising – Yaniv Levy, Director General of the Unionization Division – Amichai Stinger, and Head of the International Relations Division – Peter Lerner.

Among the business sector representatives who participated: Harel Wiesel, Avi Baum, Eitan Bar-Ze’ev, Gil Agmon, Dov Kotler, Yair Hamburger, Omri Padan.

Among the family representatives: Robi Chen – father of soldier Itay Chen, Anat Angrest – mother of soldier Matan Angrest, Einav Tsangauker – mother of Matan Tsangauker, Michel Iluz – father of Guy Iluz, Gil Dickman – cousin of the late Carmel Gat, and Yotam Cohen – brother of Nimrod Cohen.

Bar-David, who requested to meet with the families to explain his decision to refrain from a general strike, expressed concern that the Histadrut’s involvement at this time would divert public discourse around the return of the hostages into political directions:
“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. Unfortunately, and although my heart is bursting with anger, it has no practical outcome.”

Although the Histadrut will not join the strike in an organized manner, the Chairman committed to calling on managements and workers’ committees to allow any employee who wishes to participate in the protest events and the solidarity rally planned for August 17th to act according to their conscience, without harming their rights as workers.

Additionally, the Histadrut Chairman and senior business sector representatives pledged to support and assist in directing resources to continue the activities of the families’ headquarters. The Chairman also made available to the headquarters and families the Director General of the Unionization Division, Amichai Stinger, and the Histadrut’s operational logistics team for any assistance and activity, without time limitation.