Organizing Guide
“An Injury to Palestine Is an Injury to All:
Breaking Ties with the Israeli Histadrut” – Part I
Labor for Palestine National Network
Overview
On May 18, 2025, Labor for Palestine National Network members from across the U.S. and Europe co-hosted Part I of a learning series called “An Injury to Palestine Is an Injury to All: Breaking Ties with the Israeli Histadrut.” The call featured speakers from Palestine, Germany, and the U.S. teaching workers about the Histadrut: Israel’s racist “labor federation” that finances the IDF, its role in Israel’s brutal ethnic cleansing project, its connection to international labor Zionism and imperialism, and why a global movement of workers is organizing to break ties.
This toolkit supports the dissemination of this information and follow up organizing. We hope that workers will schedule viewing parties with your local unions, caucuses, and Labor for Palestine chapters to watch the recording and discuss how you can organize together. We urge you to consider bringing a version of the model resolution linked below to your unions and other labor bodies to adopt and join the movement to break ties with the Israeli Histadrut.
Materials
- Video Link: https://tinyurl.com/BreakHistadrut-Part1
- Model Resolution: https://tinyurl.com/BreakHistadrut-ModelReso
Learning Objectives
- Develop a good understanding of the Histadrut; its origins; its racist, genocidal, and apartheid politics; its role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and formation of Israel; and its place at the heart of the Zionist project
- Identify and expose links between the Histadrut and labor Zionism in the US and Europe, particularly in Germany
- Make clear the similarities between the Histadrut and its closest relatives–South African apartheid and racially segregated “unions” that have no place in our movements towards justice and liberation
- Highlight the solidarity work of a global movement of workers organizing to break ties with this Zionist formation and empower organizers to challenge these ties at the union local, caucus, state, national, and international levels
Discussion Questions
- Was there anything particularly surprising or striking that you learned about the Histadrut as an organization and its history in Palestine that you did not know before?
- After watching this video, can we succinctly state in our own words why our union or labor body should not support the Histadrut?
- What do we know about our union’s current and historic ties to the Histadrut?
- How do we define international labor solidarity?
- Why is this important to us, and how does walking the Palestine picket line shape the ways we engage in our union organizing?
Additional Materials
- To go deeper, check out the full slidedeck and facilitation guide on “Labor Zionism and the Histadrut” from which the opening section of the recorded call was drawn
- Check out this FAQ on why Palestine solidarity is a labor issue
Get Involved!
- Stay tuned for registration information for Part II of “An Injury to Palestine Is an Injury to All: Breaking Ties with the Israeli Histadrut”
- Visit Labor for Palestine National Network on the web and email us at laborforpalestine.us@gmail.com
