On video: David Grossman at a demonstration in Tel Aviv (Photo: Satview)
Employees of approximately 430 companies sat down today (Tuesday) in protest of the legal revolution promoted by the government.
The initiative was joined by high-tech giants alongside small and independent businesses, which will stop working between 11:00 and 12:00, with possible adjustments.
This will be the first of three steps that will take place this week in the fight against the government.
Three of the business owners explained in a conversation with Walla!
about the motive for the move and the goals they want to achieve.
"First and foremost, the problem is that the justice system is going to be limited by the government. It's ridiculous, and so is the appointment of people who are involved in crimes as the ones who lead democracy," said Lior Lachman, in his 30s.
Lachman and his partner Tamar Bar are the owners of "Heart Studio" for tattoos in Tel Aviv, and he owns another studio in Jaffa with another partner.
Both places will stop working.
According to him, "We are worried about the wind blowing from the new government - against values of tolerance, inclusion, self-determination. These are values we set for ourselves in the studio first and foremost. Our community represents an entire generation of designers who lift them from being equal rights."
He is willing to pay the price.
For him, the money is not the issue here.
"Everyone has to pay a certain price for this thing, even if symbolic. Our appointments will be postponed, we will not be available and the symbolic value of this is worth much more than the economic value of financial loss."
More in Walla!
A senior Bank of Israel official resigned to participate in protests against the legal revolution
Senior legal officials are afraid: Levin will pass the legal revolution without listening to our position
A loan on better terms from the bank: up to NIS 150,000 for any purpose
"This is just the beginning of the road."
Aya Lachmi (photo: official website, Sharon Levin)
Aya Lachmi, the owner of AL Organizational Consultants, adds that the main risk is not the income that will be affected by the missing working hours.
"Beyond the financial matter, the step involves a political statement that we refrained from saying. We need to declare a position, it is much more significant," she stressed.
"We are very concerned about irreversible changes being made in democracy. We are ready to say it out loud and do a brave thing for us. I hope this will be just the beginning and they will understand that the population is worried."
"I think the business sector is not going to sit back," she said.
"We hear about investors who don't want to invest in Israel, it could have a huge economic impact. But also in terms of the social fabric that will be here: I don't care if the government is left or right, just that democratic rule and the separation of powers are preserved. That human rights are not something that we fear will be harmed Or it will disappear, so that we are not afraid to demonstrate and express a position."
The organizers of the high-tech workers' protest announced three locations where demonstrations will take place during the strike, all of them near office areas - on Rothschild Boulevard and Sharona Complex in Tel Aviv and on Abba Even Street in Herzliya Pituach.
"I estimate that a large majority of the workers will sit down and I hope that we will also get to demonstrate physically," said Meir Maor, VP of Artificial Intelligence at SparkBeyond.
"Anxious for the future of Israeli democracy".
Meir Maor (photo: courtesy of those photographed)
Maor was the one who led the decision to allow a hundred company employees to participate in the protest, and turn off the laptop for a few moments.
"I am anxious for the future of Israeli democracy," he explained.
"I sent the message about the protest to the management group and asked what we thought. Right away everyone answered that we would join. I canceled a meeting I had with a lawyer - and he heard the reason and said he would sit down too."
Regarding the continuation of the business owners' struggle, he estimated that "if necessary, we will also see more drastic measures, but it is not certain that there will be the same level of mobilization as now. I hope that someone at the top will come to their senses and understand that regime revolutions are not done by chance, and that we will not have to take more extreme measures."
The protesters will also return to Tel Aviv on the coming Saturday night (Photo: Reuven Castro)
The protest week will not end there.
After the strike, of which social activist Tomer Avital is among the leaders, further protest actions are expected on Thursday, which may include road blocks.
On Saturday night there will be a demonstration against the government's actions for the third week in a row, including on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv.
Last weekend, about 130 thousand people demonstrated in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Beer Sheva, Haifa, Herzliya and more.
About 110,000 of them were at the Azrieli and Bima intersection in Tel Aviv and from there they continued to march around the city.
Many central roads in the city were blocked to vehicular traffic for many hours for the sake of the proper management of the demonstration.
As part of the plan promoted by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the government intends to enact a superseding clause with a majority of 61 members of the Knesset, abolish the reason for reasonableness, change the members of the committee for selecting judges and weaken the legal advisors.
The revolution provoked public criticism, including from legal experts, for fear of harming the balance between the authorities.
news
News in Israel
Society and welfare
Tags
strikes
High tech
government
