September 3, 2024
Israeli Settlers are Striking in Support of, not in Opposition to, the Zionist Project
The Histadrut, Israel’s general labor union, concluded a short live general strike at 2:30pm Jerusalem time on Sunday after the strike was ruled political and therefore illegitimate by the occupation’s labor court.
The strike is not in protest of the genocide in Gaza or the latest wave of repression in the West bank. Nor is it in protest of the thousands of Palestinians who are being held in Zionist prisons. Nor do settlers’ demands include delivery of urgent, life-saving aid into Gaza. Strikers’ commitment to Israel as a project in the midst of a genocide, is shattering the myth of an Israeli “left” — and exposing the deepening of a political crisis within settler society.
Strikers’ demand of return of the hostages without any other change in conditions for Palestininans confirms what we have always known: Israeli labor unions are fully in alignment with the settler-colonial project of Zionism. In fact, Labor Zionism was the dominant strand of Zionism when the illegitimate state of Israel was established.
The Histadrut has provided direct financial and political support to the Zionist state since its inception. The Histadrut attempted to create links and relationships with labor movements and Trade Unions within the imperial core. In doing so, they instrumentalize the labor movement as a vehicle through which Israel’s crimes are minimized and whitewashed.
The Histadrut have also been vocal against the BDS movement. They have agitated against BDS under the guise of boycotts ‘punish[ing] the Israeli working class’, revealing how labor narratives can be advanced to justify the ongoing settler-colonization of our homeland.
This strike, called by the Histadrut in response to the Zionist organizations that represent the families of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, is not merely a reflection of the current state of the war. It is a prime example of an intensifying crisis within the colony. The current ruling coalition’s failure to achieve any of its political or military aims has caused some sectors of Israeli society to develop an openness to signing a ceasefire agreement that fits within the parameters of the July 2nd agreement. The terms of that agreement have already been accepted by all parties except Israel.
Increased settler openness to the July 2nd agreement is not a product of labor Zionists’ newfound desire to aid Palestinians. Rather, settler openness to concessions are a result of the internal political collapse within the colony that has given Israel less leverage in negotiations.
We welcome this weakening in Israel’s negotiating position. Not because it shows a faction within Zionism that we might ally with or favor over the current governing coalition — but rather, because any development that weakens the Zionist project, is a development that brings us one step closer to the liberation of our homeland and the return of our people to all that land which is rightfully ours.