A nationwide day of protests and labour strikes, in solidarity with the families of the 50 hostages held in Hamas captivity since 7 October 2023 and as part of a call to stop the war that erupted since, took place across Israel on 17 April. Protest organisers estimate that 2.5 million people participated in the various disruptions that day, which included convoys, wake-up calls outside the homes of coalition members and cabinet ministers, rallies and traffic disruptions at dozens of junctions and some major highways blocked by protesters. In the evening, around 500,000 people filled Hostage Square in central Tel Aviv and its surroundings, in the largest Israeli demonstration since September 2024 (when six hostages were murdered in captivity as Israel Defense Forces soldiers approached the tunnel where they were being held).
A substantial grassroots labour strike accompanied the protests, joined by businesses, universities, local authorities and tech companies—despite the fact that Israel’s central labour union, the Histadrut, did not officially sanction the strike. While several of the country's major museums are habitually closed to the public on Sundays, the first day of the Israeli business week, many noted their solidarity with the protest on social media and facilitated their employees’ participation in the strike.
The Tel Aviv Museum of Art was operationally closed but opened its lobby to nearby protesters resting from the heat (the space was also available to them during the Houthi missile attack that afternoon). The screens in the lobby read “Stop” in English, Arabic and Hebrew, echoing the message of the poster Never Again War (Nie Wieder Krieg) by the German artist Käthe Kollwitz that the museum had shared to its Instagram page earlier that day.
Michal Rovner's video Signaling (2024) projected on the exterior of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art during the nationwide strike and protest on 17 August
“The museum sanctifies humanistic values, dialogue and addressing the conflict non-violently, and the fact that Hostage Square is also at the museum’s doorstep—it is a bleeding wound that we cannot forget. It is always there,” says Tania Coen-Uzzielli, the director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, of the institution’s participation in Sunday’s protest. “At the same time, it is also important for us to express outrage at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” The main rally took place directly outside the institution, and the museum projected a video work by the artist Michal Rovner, Signaling (2024), on its façade in solidarity.
In Jerusalem, the Israel Museum signalled its involvement with a projection on its Frederick Kiesler-designed Shrine of the Book building. “On a symbolic and declarative level, we decided to illuminate the Shrine of the Book in yellow to create a visual expression using a colour that has come to symbolise the struggle today, the pain and the grief, and the demand to return the hostages that have been in Gaza for almost two years,” says Amitai Mendelsohn, the senior curator of Israeli art at the Israel Museum. The museum’s leadership sent a staff-wide email last week making clear that it would enable employees to strike.
The Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum illuminated in yellow on 17 August Photo © The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, by Elie Posner
In the days leading up to Sunday’s events, the Curator's Union urged its members to strike and allow other museum staff to do so as well. The country's premier art school, the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design, also announced that it would be striking to support the families of the hostages and protest the government’s plan to take over Gaza. At another Israeli art academy, the Shenkar College of Engineering, Design and Art, the textile design department called to end the war and return the remaining hostages, posting a loom with a warp of 50 threads into which yellow yarn was interwoven.
On its Instagram page, the Mishkan Museum of Art posted that it was ceasing its activity on Sunday to help “end the war and the suffering experienced by so many families”. Similarly, the Center for Contemporary Art Tel Aviv shared that it was joining “an urgent call to end the war and release the hostages”. Neve Schechter Gallery in Tel Aviv remained closed on Sunday in protest, and Givon on Paper (an online sales platform for works on paper by Israeli artists) blocked its website for sales on Sunday to “[join] the urgent call to end the war, secure the release of the hostages, halt the suffering and starvation of innocent people, and protest against the right-wing messianic government”.
