Israel Today: Israeli companies allow their employees to be absent to participate in demonstrations against Netanyahu
Nearly 200 private Israeli companies allowed their employees to be absent from work next week, to participate in demonstrations in West Jerusalem demanding the conclusion of a prisoner exchange deal with the Palestinian factions in Gaza.
According to Israel Today newspaper, the Israeli Business Forum, which includes approximately 200 private companies, announced that it will allow its interested employees to join the demonstrations against the government and demand the conclusion of an exchange deal, which will be held in Jerusalem during the next week.
Israel Today said that companies will allow employees to be absent or leave early to participate in demonstrations, without deducting them from their accrued vacation.
Israel Today quoted business forum leaders as saying that Israel is in a state of emergency and citizens must be allowed to exercise their democratic right and express their voice.
The business forum includes the largest private companies in Israel, which employ the largest percentage of the workforce in the private sector.
On Saturday evening, Israel witnessed huge demonstrations across the country, in which tens of thousands of people participated, to pressure the Netanyahu government to conclude an exchange deal with Hamas and hold early elections.
Earlier Saturday, the private Israeli channel 12 reported that the Israeli negotiating delegation, with the participation of representatives of the intelligence agency “Mossad”, the internal security service “Shin Bet” and the military intelligence agency “Aman”, will travel on Sunday to Cairo to participate in talks on the exchange deal between Israel and Hamas.
Qatar, Egypt, and the United States are continuing their efforts with the aim of reaching a prisoner exchange deal and a second truce between Israel and Hamas, after the first, which lasted a week until the beginning of last December, and resulted in a prisoner exchange and the entry of limited aid into the Gaza Strip.
