The News
Israelis went on strike for several hours on Monday after mass weekend protests demanding the government secure the release of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza.
Schools, universities, and businesses were among those that shut their doors before the walkout was called off, earlier than planned, after Israel’s labor court ruled the strike must end for failing to give enough notice.
The strike and protests come amid growing anger against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the retrieval of six more hostage bodies from Gaza on Saturday.
SIGNALS
Netanyahu’s rehabilitation campaign may have collapsed
Netanyahu’s warmongering initially helped him win back the trust of the far-right following the Oct. 7 attacks, but news of the hostage deaths has run his rehabilitation campaign into “serious difficulty,” a columnist wrote in Haaretz. It is “too little, too late” for Israel’s current leaders, the right-leaning Jerusalem Post argued in an editorial. But while Netanyahu is certainly to blame, so too are the yes-men cabinet ministers and lawmakers who “remained glued to their chairs,” Haaretz’ Gidi Weitz argued. The most recent tragedy must be a “turning point” in the effort to remove Netanyahu from power, he added.
Efforts to remove Netanyahu may need to ‘come from within’
Netanyahu has doubled down on his red lines for a ceasefire deal, insisting that any concessions — such as caving on Israeli retention of the Philadelphi Corridor — would simply “reward” Hamas, The Jerusalem Post reported. Direct action ordered by Israel’s largest trade union has forced the government’s hand before, and could reignite public support for a truce, The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent wrote. But Netanyahu has only become more desperate to cling to power, meaning any attempt to remove him may ultimately “need to come from within” in the form of cabinet members deserting him and forcing new elections, she added.