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The head of Israel's powerful Histadrut trade union on Sunday declared a general strike over the government's failure to secure the release of hostages from Gaza, after meeting with their families.
Histadrut Labor Federation head Arnon Bar-David said a one-day strike would take place from 6am on Monday and called all civilian workers to take part.
“We must stop the abandonment of the hostages … I have come to the conclusion that only our intervention can shake those who need to be shaken,” he said.
“Starting tomorrow at six in the morning, the entire Israeli economy will go on complete strike.”
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport will be closed for take-off and landings from 8am, the country's Trade Union Federation said, and schools would only open until 11.45am. Nurseries would be closed all day, the Teachers Union, a branch of Histarut, said.
If it goes ahead, the strike will be the first since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, in which about 1,200 people were killed and kidnapped 251 more from southern Israel. Israel says 101 hostages remain unaccounted for after its military recovered the bodies of six of its citizens on Sunday. More than 40,700 have been killed in Gaza in retaliatory operations by Israeli forces.
The bodies of Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi and Ori Danino have been returned to Israel after being shot shortly before the Israeli military could reach them, military spokesman Admiral Daniel Hagari said.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under increasing pressure to reach a deal with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages. “Whoever murders hostages – does not want a deal,” he said on Sunday. Hamas has blamed Israel for refusing to sign a ceasefire deal.
Histradut represents more than 800,000 workers in sectors including health, transport and banking. It joined opposition leader Yair Lapid and several Israeli municipalities in calling for strike action, including Israel’s major city of Tel Aviv. Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai said his municipality will strike from Monday morning until noon, with no public meetings held and workers encouraged to join hostage rallies. “Eden, Carmel, Hersh, Uri, Almog and Alex should have been home by now. Alive. The Israeli government abandoned them, but the State of Israel is us,” he wrote on X.
Kfar Saba and Gi’vayatim have also announced municipal strikes, while businesses across Israel have launched independent shutdowns in support of hostage families. Doctors at Tel Aviv’s Sheba Hospital will also strike, heeding calls for pressure from the Hostages and Families Forum, which will hold major protests in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Sunday.
“As doctors and health professionals, our first and fundamental duty is to protect, preserve and save human life. Therefore, we are responding to the Families Forum appeal in which we express our support for their [hostages] release,” read a statement from medical workers.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich asked the country's attorney general on Sunday evening to submit an urgent request to courts to block the planned strike.
In his letter to Gali Baharav-Miara, Mr Smotrich argued that a strike had no legal basis since it aimed to improperly influence significant policy decisions of politicians on issues related to state security.
He also said that a broad strike – which would shut the country including outgoing flights – has significant economic consequences which would cause unnecessary economic damage in wartime.
Meanwhile, thousands attended the funeral of Alex Lobanov, 32, one of Sunday's murdered hostages, at the New Cemetery in Ashqelon.
The agreement to strike came as thousands took to the streets to protest the handling of the war in Gaza and call to bring the hostages home. The Hostages and Families' Forum asked the public to “join a massive demonstration, demanding a complete halt of the country and the immediate implementation of a deal” with Hamas.
Tens of thousands of grieving and angry Israelis surged into the streets Sunday night, chanting “Now! Now!” as they demanded that Mr Netanyahu reach a ceasefire with Hamas to bring the remaining captives home.
Thousands of people, some of them weeping, gathered Sunday night outside Mr Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. In Tel Aviv, hostages' relatives marched with coffins to symbolise the death toll.
“We really think that the government is making these decisions for its own conservation and not for the lives of the hostages, and we need to tell them, ‘Stop,’” said Shlomit Hacohen, a Tel Aviv resident.
Three of the six hostages found dead were reportedly scheduled to be released in the first phase of a ceasefire proposal discussed in July.
“Nothing is worse than knowing that they could have been saved,” said Dana Loutaly. “Sometimes it takes something so awful to shake people up and get them out into the streets.”
Hamas has offered to release the hostages in return for an end to the war, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-profile militants.
Izzat Al Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the hostages would still be alive if Israel had accepted a US-backed ceasefire proposal that Hamas said it had agreed to in July.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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