Hundreds of schools shut in Israel as teachers strike over pay cut

By Ahmed Asmar

An unofficial strike by Israeli teachers over a pay cut has left hundreds of schools and kindergartens shut in central Israel.

On Sunday, the Teachers Union reached an agreement with the Finance Ministry to set the pay cut at 0.95% instead of the originally set 3.3% as of May until the end of December 2025.

The agreement has angered teachers, who called in sick in protest of the deal, causing hundreds of schools and kindergartens to remain closed for the third consecutive day.

The teachers see the pay cut as “concessions” made by the union's leader, Yaffa Ben David, in his negotiations with the Finance Ministry.

According to the Israeli Channel 12, over 400 schools and kindergartens are closed across central Israel as the protest continued.

The Education Ministry, for its part, instructed district administrators to summon those “inciting teachers to illegal activity” for a hearing, accusing "political figures" of joining the teachers' protest.

According to estimates by the Education Ministry, up to 17,000-20,000 teachers, around 10% of Israel’s workforce, have listed themselves as sick on Monday.