Israel FM calls to boycott Arab Israeli businesses on strike in support of Gaza

Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman continued on Monday his incitement campaign against Arabs, calling this time for Israeli Jews to boycott Arab businesses to punish them for striking in protest of Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip.

According to Haaretz newspaper, Lieberman published a post on his Facebook account saying that: “I call upon everyone not to shop anymore at the stores and businesses of those among the Arab sector who are participating today in the general strike that was declared by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee as a sign of empathy for Gaza residents and against Operation Protective Edge.”

The major Arab cities in Israel, including Umm Al-Fahm, Sakhnin and Nazareth, all participated in a general strike on Monday to protest the Israeli aggression in Gaza.

Haaretz described the strike as the largest in years, in terms of the size of the response and the level of people’s commitment.

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in Israel called for a general strike across Arab towns and villages and for an afternoon demonstration in the city of Nazareth. In addition, the committee called to limit the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr celebrations to religious rituals.

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem also joined the general strike to mourn the victims of the Shajaiya massacre and to protest against the continuous Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, which has now entered its third week.

The strike in the occupied territories came in response to calls by the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and other national and popular forces.

The shops closed their doors in the morning hours while government ministries, institutions, universities and banks stopped working in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Executive Committee also called for the political forces, trade unions and student council to organise public events to reject the Israeli aggression and condemn the massacres.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced three days of mourning, during which Palestinian flags will be lowered at official institutions and Palestinian embassies abroad.