Leading universities and dozens of local authorities threw their weight Tuesday behind a planned nationwide strike next week called by families of hostages held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip to protest the continuation of the war there and the government’s approval of a plan for a military takeover of Gaza City.
Universities and municipalities said they would allow staff to attend protest events, but refrained from formally declaring a strike.
The strike was called by hostages’ families to protest the government’s decision to widen the war in Gaza rather than sign a deal to return the abductees.
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Technion — Israel Institute of Technology, and the Open University all issued statements backing the strike that is set for Sunday. However, some of the schools noted that exams scheduled for that day will go ahead as planned.
The Hebrew University’s management, dean, and school heads said in a letter to the school’s community that they will join the strike, and urged the government to “do whatever it takes, including ending the war, to return the hostages now.”
Get The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the terms
“Returning the hostages is a goal of highest value, which comes before all other objectives, no matter how important they are,” they declared.
Demonstrators protest, calling to end the war in Gaza, while others demonstrate in favor of continuing the fighting, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on May 12, 2025. (Flash90)
The Technion, located in Haifa, also said it would join the strike, with board members halting their work to participate in protest events. The school said it would allow academic and administrative staff who want to join the strike to skip work.
The Open University also said that the president, rector, and director would join in and that it would allow faculty, staff, and students to participate.
The Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, and Haifa University previously said they will allow staff to join the strike if they wish.
The strike is organized by the October Council lobby group, which represents some family members of those held hostage in Gaza or whose family members have been killed in the fighting. It thanked the universities in a statement and said that “Israeli academia understands that silence kills.”
Meanwhile, some 75 local authorities signed a letter backing the strike. Among those who put their names to the letter were Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, Haim Bibas, the chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, and Shay Hajaj, chairman of the Center of Regional Councils and head of the Merhavim Regional Council in the southern Negev area, the Ynet outlet reported.
“We will support with every legal activity that reminds decision-makers that returning the hostages is a supreme national objective,” they wrote. “We are committed to stand with the hostages’ families, to strengthen them, and to echo the sound of their cries.”
The authorities noted that, by law, they can’t call a formal strike and therefore were instead dedicating their public work on Sunday on behalf of the hostages.
View of the campus of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, in the northern Israeli city of Haifa, on February 19, 2019. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)
Channel 12 reported that the Federation of Local Authorities said it would let each municipality decide for itself what to do on Sunday.
The main organization representing families of hostages also issued a call to the public to strike, adding its heft to the October Council efforts.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it had met with the Histadrut labor federation leader, Arnon Bar-David, for talks on industrial action. Bar-David has already chosen to keep the union out of the strike.
“Now is the time to act, to take to the streets, to support the hostage families, to support the soldiers’ families, to determine the fate of the hostages and the future of our state,” the forum said in a statement.
Although the Histadrut will not join the strike in an organized manner, Bar-David sent a letter asking company management and workers’ committees to allow employees to participate in the protest and a solidarity rally without harming their rights as workers.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid urged government supporters to join Sunday’s planned general strike.
“You can just stop for one day and say this is terrible, this is sad, that you’re not looking away and not telling people whose lives have been destroyed to ‘be quiet,’” Lapid said.
“Strike because the families asked, and that is reason enough. Strike because no one has a monopoly on emotion, on shared responsibility, on Jewish values,” he said, noting the 676 days of grief endured by many families.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on August 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
“Strike so that, for at least one day, it will be clear we still have something good in common. That being Israeli, first and foremost, means having a heart,” Lapid continued.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch panned Lapid, writing in a post to X that he should “Stop serving Hamas.”
Kisch said that Lapid’s call to strike is “a gift to the enemy, not the hostages.”
He asserted that “Hamas took a decision to not release the hostages and the pressure that you are exerting harms Israel, not our murderous enemy.”
“If you really care about the hostages, then direct your energies to heavy international pressure on Hamas and the mediators,” Kisch said.
Education Minister Yoav Kisch attends a meeting of the Knesset Education, Culture, and Sports Committee in Jerusalem, May 12, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
An anti-government protest group representing dozens of the country’s largest tech companies, collectively employing tens of thousands of workers, said Sunday that it would join the strike. Among the tech companies are Wix, Fiverr, Meta, Papaya Global, HoneyBook, Natural Intelligence, and Fireblocks. The group also includes venture capital funds such as Qumra Capital, Pitango, Disruptive, and NFX.
The Israel Bar Association has announced that it supports the strike, calling on the nation’s lawyers to join.