Israeli strike over Bezeq sale

Thousands of Israeli public sector workers walked off their jobs for an hour on July 16 to back striking employees of Bezeq Israel Telecom, shutting down Israel's main airport and Israeli radio, a union official said.

Employees of state-owned Bezeq walked out on July 14 to protest against the government's failure to inform them in advance of an agreement to sell 12.5 percent of Bezeq's shares to Merrill Lynch for 250 million US dollars, union officials said.

Bezeq filed a motion in court on July 16 to halt the strike.

Shlomo Shani, chairman of the trade union department at the Histadrut Labor Federation, said workers at Israel's Airport authority, as well as at state-owned El Al Israel Airlines and Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) halted work for an hour in support of the Bezeq strike.

A work stoppage at the Israeli Broadcasting Authority took Israeli radio off the air between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.