No to the Occupation of Gaza — Protest, Strike, Refusal

Despite the police’s attempts to silence and suppress the protest, thousands took part in the demonstration in Tel Aviv against the war of extermination. Read the leaflet we distributed

SSM

Wednesday, 27 August 2025

4 min read

Available in: Arabic | Hebrew

Despite the police’s attempt to silence the protest, thousands took part in the demonstration in Tel Aviv, initiated by the High Follow‑Up Committee, against starvation, displacement, and the war of extermination on Gaza. Activists of the Socialist Struggle Movement also took part in the demonstration, carrying signs that read: ‘A general strike to stop the war of extermination, for reconstruction and a dignified life’, ‘Protest, strike, refusal — no solution without a struggle against occupation, siege, and poverty’, ‘Enough massacres and starvation, yes to reconstruction and a dignified life’, ‘No to the occupation of Gaza, stop the extermination — Free ‘all for all’.

At first, a march was planned through central streets of the city ending in HaBima Square, but the police cancelled the permit for the march in an attempt to silence opponents of the extermination, as part of the racist political persecution of the Arab‑Palestinian public in particular. Instead of the march, a cross‑national protest demonstration was organised. At the end of the speeches, and in response to the chanting of ‘With spirit and blood we will redeem you, Gaza’, dozens of armed police officers stormed the demonstration and threatened to disperse it by force. After the demonstration, the police stopped a bus carrying demonstrators to the north and arrested one of the activists, Sheikha Bakri, who had been chanting the slogan, and took her for questioning in an attempt to intimidate her. She was released after several hours.

This is the first time the Follow‑Up Committee has organised a demonstration in Tel Aviv against the war of extermination — an important step in building momentum for the struggle, after the large demonstration in Sakhnin. Although political repression and the police’s announcements about cancelling the permit for the march likely affected the turnout, a broader and longer media campaign in preparation for the upcoming demonstration could strengthen mobilisation.

We publish below the bi-lingual leaflet we distributed at the demonstration.

Speed: Voice:

No to the occupation of Gaza — protest, strike, refusal!

Stop starvation, displacement, and extermination

In struggle to bring down the dictatorship of occupation and the rule of capital, and for socialist change

The government of death threatens to destroy what remains of Gaza and to carry out ethnic cleansing and Transfer with the support of Trump. Millions of people around the world, from Australia to Morocco, are demonstrating in the face of the atrocities, the daily massacres, and the images of children dying of hunger, demanding an end to the genocide. Also in the country, despite repression and persecution, the large demonstration in Sakhnin in late July and the series of demonstrations in Arab‑Palestinian towns marked a turning point.

The decision to occupy Gaza was taken at a time when most of the Israeli public tends to support ending the war and concluding a comprehensive exchange deal. Last Sunday, hundreds of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv as part of the ‘protest strike’ day. It is true that the organisations that initiated the strike are dominated by institutional bodies that do not oppose the genocidal massacre in Gaza in itself, but a general strike that paralyses the economy can disrupt the government’s plans, and in that sense is a step in a required direction to stop the war of extermination. Bar David and the right‑wing leadership of the Histadrut prevented this necessary step, but we saw in September 2024 how popular pressure forced him to announce an economic shutdown.

A plan is required to escalate the struggle

Mobilising workers’ committees and unions to lead a warning strike that paralyses the economy, with a final ultimatum for a general strike lasting two days or even three days. This is aimed at demanding an end to the war of extermination, starvation, and occupation, and the release of ‘all for all’, and against the budget cuts intended to fund the war machine, and for reconstruction and a dignified life.
Left‑wing forces, such as Hadash/Al-Jabha, can use their leadership positions in Histadrut councils and branches to advance proposals in this direction.
Signing petitions in workplaces and unions — such as those published by social workers, journalists, medical teams, and members of the academic and research staff at Tel Aviv University — will contribute to intensifying pressure to hold meetings, adopt clear positions, and take organisational steps.
The call by Palestinian unions to launch strikes against the extermination around the world must be supported. Groups of workers have stopped arms shipments to Israel, and have organised strikes and disruption actions. Here too, a strike ‘from below’ can be built even without the support of union leaderships, including taking steps towards a Palestinian general strike on both sides of the Green Line.
Momentum must be built for mass demonstrations, acts of refusal and disruption with broad participation to directly hinder the work of the government and the war machine.

The Socialist Struggle Movement calls for:

No to the occupation of Gaza, to starvation and extermination. No to ethnic cleansing and Transfer! Opening all crossings to allow the entry of aid and goods. The release of ‘all for all’, and the withdrawal of all occupation forces from Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and the West Bank.
Stopping the attacks by the army and settlers in the West Bank, and stopping the destruction and displacement of tens of thousands of residents of refugee camps and villages.
Confiscating the vast resources controlled by the big capitalists in favour of reconstruction efforts for all communities affected by the war, and paying comprehensive compensation to the general public in Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, and also in the Galilee and the Western Negev/Naqab.
The struggle for a radical, socialist solution — to bring down the dictatorship of occupation and the rule of capital, imperialism, and national oppression, and to advance equal rights for all, self‑determination, and living with dignity, welfare, and personal safety.
Yes to establishing an independent, democratic, socialist, and equal Palestinian state; and yes to democracy and revolutionary socialist change in Israel and the region. Achieving a just solution to the Palestinian refugee question through an understanding that includes recognition of the historical injustice of the 1948 Nakba, and of the right of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons to return, while guaranteeing equality of rights for all nations and all minorities.