With the strike in the West Bank, a “message nightmare” haunts Israeli officials

In their comments to Sky News Arabia, two analysts, a Palestinian and an Israeli, evaluated the ability of the strike, which included other countries, especially Lebanon, to influence the course of the war that has been ongoing since last October 7.

The following is what was monitored by the Palestinian News Agency, Wafa, and the French Press Agency, regarding the scenes of the strike inside the West Bank and in several countries:

• The strike, called for by Islamic and national factions and youth organizations, paralyzed all aspects of life in the West Bank. Universities, banks, shops, public transportation, factories, government offices, and even bakeries, which were rarely included in strikes, stopped working.
• Most of the streets in the West Bank seemed almost empty of vehicles and pedestrians, and the most prominent activity was marches that roamed the streets of Hebron and Ramallah denouncing Israeli practices, and participants raised banners, “Stop the war on Gaza.”
• In Lebanon, government institutions, banks, schools and unions closed their doors after the government announced, according to the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, Mahmoud Makiya, a nationwide strike in solidarity with Gaza and the southern regions of the country, which are witnessing an exchange of fire between Israel and Hezbollah.
• In Türkiye, the Esenyurt neighborhood in western Istanbul witnessed a strike. Note that most of the businesses there are residents of the Palestinian territories, Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
• In Jordan, some unions, commercial institutions, and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced a general strike.
• In Egypt, some posted pictures on social media platforms of closed stores.

There were calls on social media platforms calling for a comprehensive strike around the world, in solidarity with the people of Gaza, and urging governments in their countries to take action to stop the Israeli massacres, through the hashtag “Strike for Gaza” or “strikeforgaza.”

The West Bank previously witnessed a comprehensive strike on October 18, denouncing the Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank.

Moral support

Professor of Political Science at the Al-Quds Group and Palestinian political analyst, Dr. Ayman Al-Raqab, describes the strike as “moral support for the Palestinian people, and we cannot say that it will affect the course of the war.”

According to Al-Raqab, what could affect the Israeli forces are “demonstrations and clashes, not strikes.”

The Israeli political analyst, Shlomo Ganor, agrees with him that if matters are limited to strikes and silent protests, this will not affect the course of the war.

However, he did not rule out that “after the strike, we will move to other methods that may expose residents to confrontation with Israeli forces in the West Bank.”

A phone nightmare

Those in solidarity with the Palestinians resorted to another form of protest against the war, which was flooding the WhatsApp accounts of Israeli officials with angry and threatening messages, according to what the Israeli website “124 News” published on Monday.

The report stated that the Israeli Minister of Transportation, Miri Regev, received during the past hours a torrent of thousands of messages and voice calls attacking her on her WhatsApp account.

Part of the letters were written in Hebrew, and included explicit threats such as “You will soon say peace!”, “In hell you will understand,” “We will kill you,” and “Even if you win, you will go bankrupt and your people will become poor.”

On Sunday, Naor Yahya, spokesman for Israeli President Isaac Herzog, said that in recent days he had been attacked with WhatsApp messages and conversations by pro-Palestinian activists, some of which read: “Palestine will be liberated and you will be destroyed,” and “Wait your turn to die.”

Naor Yahya told those close to him: “You do not understand what a nightmare I am living through.”