Israel shut down by massive general strike.

[Cyre2067]

from here: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2023905.ece

Israel crippled by general strike
AP
Published: 29 November 2006

Israel's largest trade union began a sweeping general strike today, shutting down the country's only international airport and all the ports.

The strike began after the Histadrut union failed to reach an agreement with the government on providing funds to regional councils that have been unable to pay their workers for months.

The issue has been a sore point between the Histadrut and the finance ministry for several years, with the government saying that poor planning and mismanagement by regional councils led them to near bankruptcy.

At Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport the lights were shut and all flights, incoming and outgoing, were cancelled. Throughout the country trains came to a halt, government ministries kept their doors shut, rubbish began piling up and the postal, phone and electric services stopped.

It was unclear how long the strike would last. In the past, general strikes in Israel have lasted for days, costing the market millions in losses.

Israel's largest trade union began a sweeping general strike today, shutting down the country's only international airport and all the ports.

The strike began after the Histadrut union failed to reach an agreement with the government on providing funds to regional councils that have been unable to pay their workers for months.

The issue has been a sore point between the Histadrut and the finance ministry for several years, with the government saying that poor planning and mismanagement by regional councils led them to near bankruptcy.

At Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport the lights were shut and all flights, incoming and outgoing, were cancelled. Throughout the country trains came to a halt, government ministries kept their doors shut, rubbish began piling up and the postal, phone and electric services stopped.

It was unclear how long the strike would last. In the past, general strikes in Israel have lasted for days, costing the market millions in losses.

The deeper meaning eludes me. However i can't help but feel it's designed to piss off israeli's, to foment general anger and discomfort, perhaps to eventually focus it towards arabs. Comments?

There is the possibility that poor management has created conditions where this was inevitable, but generally nowadays i tend to try to see if events, esp in the middle east, are more then what they seem.

 

[rs]

The deeper meaning eludes me. However i can't help but feel it's designed to piss off israeli's, to foment general anger and discomfort, perhaps to eventually focus it towards arabs.

I work with Israelis and have been to Israel.

Trust me, the Israelis don't need oblique provocations to focus their anger towards Arabs. I work with an "educated" bunch and it never ceases to amaze me how someone with a PhD can instantly launch into a spittle-spewing angry hateful racist diatribe when the subject of "the palestinians" comes up... (Not that I bring the subject up, but sometimes the subject comes up "all by itself"...)

 

[Keit]

The deeper meaning eludes me. However i can't help but feel it's designed to piss off israeli's, to foment general anger and discomfort, perhaps to eventually focus it towards arabs. Comments? .

I think that this strike is justified. Those people didn't receive their salaries for more then half a year. In Israel reality you can't survive that long without having debt or other monetary problems. And all those problems are direct result of government corruption, but this is not something specific to Israel (although here they are exceptionally greedy).
Israelis highly spoiled nation (not all of them of course). And the anger is a result of inconvenience and uncomfortable situation that created by this strike. Israelis hate to wait or to be denied of service, so they express anger toward those who actually need help.
But I don't think that this will be directed toward Arabs. Maybe, because anything is possible, but this is not the first time it happened.
By the way, those who do understand the just reasons behind this strike, bring example of French unions strike several years ago.

 

[name]

Keit >> Those people didn't receive their salaries for more then half a year.

they don't pay communal workers for over half a YEAR but keep a totally unjustifiable genocide which costs BILLIONS and hurts israel as a country more than anything else cound, going ?

repeat with me: the israeli govt is not nuts, the israeli govt is not nuts, the israeli govt is not nuts, ...

 

[brainwave]

work with Israelis and have been to Israel.

Trust me, the Israelis don't need oblique provocations to focus their anger towards Arabs. I work with an "educated" bunch and it never ceases to amaze me how someone with a PhD can instantly launch into a spittle-spewing angry hateful racist diatribe when the subject of "the palestinians" comes up... (Not that I bring the subject up, but sometimes the subject comes up "all by itself"...)

I have to agree with this. I know a few supposedly 'brilliant' MD/PhDs who subscribe to the racist view and ain't it funny how the subject does come up by itself. I stopped doing lunch after being sick and tired of hearing how barbaric "those people" are. Clearly though, Israelis are not happy with their government, hence the strike. The programming that says they must support the government sponsored genocide won't let them see why they have not been paid in a year. It ain't just corruption. Those cluster bombs cost moolah. But they will blame the cost on the Arabs anyway. Israel has to defend itself afterall.