When the Nazis sent 400 Dutch Jews to the concentration camps in February 1941, hundreds of thousands of Dutch workers went on strike. “Give back our Jews!” they cried in the streets. “Give back our Jews!” they plastered on the walls. “Give back our Jews!” demanded the workers, who used their power to strike to save lives. Many of the Dutch workers struck, and in the municipal services, in the schools, at the port, and in the shops, they paid a heavy price. But the goal—saving lives—was holy.
When Israeli workers went on strike in 2012 to demand independent contractors be employed directly, that was for life. In 2017, when workers joined the protest to raise disability benefits, that was about life. And when workers participated in the demonstrations for equal rights for the queer community—that was because the workers have always stood on the side of life.
The tragic news earlier this month of the murders of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat at the hands of Hamas terrorists broke the heart of the people of Israel. The pain pierced every individual. It is not possible to accept that over one hundred Israelis are still being held captive. Many Israelis asked themselves on that day—what can I do to rescue the hostages?
Workers do not have large assets or tremendous power, but they have the ability to work or to strike. It’s not politics, and it’s not violence. It is the only power that workers have to affect reality, to support or to oppose a cause. Despite the disparagement of the workers and the chair of the Histadrut, it’s not fun to go on strike. Workers use this tool as a last resort. And don’t the all-too-quickly fading lives of the hostages justify the use of that last resort?
I have met with a number of families of hostages in the past 11 months. Many of them work in the public sector: in hospitals, in clinics, in schools, and in municipal services. They deserve to know that their friends and colleagues are with them in their struggle.
The workplace is central to one’s identity. These are people with whom you spend a significant portion of your waking hours, where you forge friendships, traditions, love, and closeness. To protest with and for our brothers and sisters, especially in the framework of the workplace, is self-evident.
The Jewish commandment “And you shall choose life,” an ancient and profound decree, requires consecrating life in two senses—both to choose life itself in the face of death, and to choose life for the living people who can still be saved. The people of Israel is a nation that strives for life, light, and joy. It’s in our DNA, the power of choosing life. A people that fought throughout generations for a more just, better life, for life itself.
The decision to go on strike and to demand that everything that can be done to save the hostages must be done is part of the DNA of the workers. We will always stand on the side of life.
This article was translated from Hebrew by Tzivia Gross.
