Will Israel’s economy halt? Histadrut draws ‘red line’ over court defiance

Earlier today, Arnon Bar-David, the powerful chairman of the Histadrut (Israel’s national labor federation), held a meeting attended by 45 senior figures from Israel’s business, financial, medical, and high-tech sectors.

Following the meeting a dramatic statement was released to the media stating that : "A constitutional crisis would utterly collapse the local economy, destroy the values upon which the country was built, and turn us into a dictatorship".

Among the participants who met with Bar-David were Dana Azrieli, Harel Wiesel, Dov Kotler, Shlomo Dovrat, Amir Chen, Professor Jacob Frenkel, and Yitzhak Kreiss. The attendees agreed to continue coordination and discussed possible steps to be taken in light of recent judicial legislation and Supreme Court rulings.

the consultation was meant to formulate a joint stance only in the case that the government defies a Supreme Court ruling, thus triggering a constitutional rift.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was stated:

Bar-David previously initiated a nationwide strike following the murder of six hostages and the government’s failure to secure a hostage deal. That strike was halted by a ruling from the Labor Court, which stated the issue was not within the Histadrut’s mandate to protect workers’ rights.

A general strike is not expected given the support for the Likud party among many major labor union leaders.

Over the past two years, Israel has seen one major strikes in response to the launch of the judicial overhaul.