“The strike is political, there is no connection between the killing of the abductees and the economy,” the court’s president said in her decision.

By JNS

An Israeli labor court has ordered a general strike that began on Monday morning to end at 2:30 p.m., with the court’s president calling the economic shutdown “political.”

Judge Hadas Yahlom, president of the Labor Court in Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, said in her decision that “after hearing the parties’ positions and perusing the materials submitted to the case, we hereby grant a temporary injunction against the announced strike, in such a way that the strike will end today at 2:30 p.m.”

She added: “The strike is political, there is no connection between the killing of the abductees and the economy.”

On Sunday, the Histadrut labor federation, which represents some 800,000 Israeli trade unionists, declared a general strike starting at 6 a.m. on Monday, shutting down large sectors of the economy, to protest against the lack of a ceasefire deal with the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

It came after the IDF announced on Sunday morning that the bodies of six hostages were recovered overnight Saturday from a tunnel in Rafah in southern Gaza, sparking anti-government protests and calls by left-wing political leaders for a general strike.

At the request of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu, the state filed a petition on Monday morning against Histadrut Chairman Arnon Bar–David.

According to the petition, the strike was not called “for the purposes of a collective labor dispute, and as such is a political strike.”

The strike was set to last for 24 hours with the possibility of an extension, but Bar-David told the Labor Court that the strike would end on Monday at 6 p.m., before the judge’s decision ended it hours earlier.

Smotrich praised the court’s ruling, tweeting, “The court accepted our position and determined that the Histadrut’s strike was political and illegal.

“The Israeli workers who showed up for work today in droves proved that the days of the red register that enslaves the workers for political needs are over. It is not possible to damage the Israeli economy and thereby serve the interests of [Hamas leader in Gaza Yayha] Sinwar and Hamas!”