Israel Protesters Plan National Strike
Social justice protesters in Israel say they will hold a national strike at the end of the month.
The strike announced late Monday night and set for Nov. 1, and mass rallies scheduled for Oct. 29, are being organized to express dissatisfaction with the report by the Trajtenberg Committee proposing solutions to Israel’s socioeconomic problems.
On Sunday, the Cabinet approved the Trajtenberg report by a vote of 21 to 8.
The 14-member committee of academics and economists, which was chaired by Manuel Trajtenberg of the Israel Council for Higher Education and a former Tel Aviv University economics professor, was appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following mass protests last summer to look at the problems facing Israel and come up with solutions.
The late October rally will be the first since a mass demonstration at the end of the summer that brought out some 400,000 people throughout Israel.
On Tuesday, Israel’s Labor Union chief announced a labor dispute, which will allow the union to launch a general strike in two weeks, coinciding with the social justice movement’s plan.
The strike would include airports, ports, train services, government ministries and local authorities, and also could include the national teacher’s union. The action is being called over the plight of contract workers, according to reports and has the support of social protest leader Dafni Leef.
The announcements come a day after hundreds of medical residents resigned in a labor dispute that has wreaked havoc on the nation’s medical system. The number of residents who did not show up for work Tuesday hovered near 500, according to reports. The residents are dissatisfied with a nine-year agreement signed recently between the government and the Israel Medical Association.
The national Labor Court was expected to make a decision late Tuesday on the previous day’s request by the state prosecutor to issue an injunction against the resignations and order the residents back to work as they negotiate for a solution.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
News Why Zohran Mamdani believes he’ll win over Jewish voters, as Israel critic surges to second behind Cuomo in NYC mayoral race
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Campus encampments return one year later, and pro-Palestinian protests spark 15 arrests
-
Fast Forward Israeli left-wing group suspended at University of Haifa after protesting the war in Gaza
-
Fast Forward Jordanian national in Florida sentenced to 6 years for targeting businesses he believed supported Israel
-
Fast Forward A ‘Golden Dome for America,’ inspired by Israel, is part of Trump’s 2026 budget request
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.