2018 Israeli LGBTQ Strike

Israel had maintained anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation for years prior to 2018.[1] Israeli law prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and the government generally enforced those protections, though discrimination persisted in parts of society.[1] Same-sex marriages performed abroad were recognized and registered by the Ministry of Interior, and same-sex couples who used surrogacy services outside Israel could bring children back to Israel, where the children received citizenship and were recognized as their legal children.[2]

Surrogacy access nonetheless remained a persistent legal inequality. Under existing law, state-supported surrogacy was available only under limited conditions, and gay couples and single men were excluded from state-supported domestic surrogacy arrangements.[3] In 2014, Israel's Supreme Court had allowed same-sex couples to adopt through surrogacy when the biological parent could provide a paternity test or highly convincing medical and legal evidence of parenthood, but this fell short of full equal access.[4] LGBT rights advocates had long urged that single men and gay couples be included in any expansion of surrogacy eligibility.[3]

In July 2018, the Knesset passed an amendment to Israel's surrogacy law that expanded state-supported surrogacy to single women but did not extend the same permission to single men or same-sex couples.[5][6] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had expressed support for a clause that would have extended surrogacy rights to gay couples, but ultimately voted against it — reportedly under pressure from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.[7] Netanyahu later said he voted against the measure to ensure passage of the broader bill and promised to support a separate bill legalizing surrogacy for gay couples at a later Knesset session.[7] The Congressional Research Service listed the legislation among notable developments in July 2018 and cited contemporaneous reporting on the protests surrounding it.[5]

Before the nationwide strike was formally declared, approximately 800 LGBTQ people and supporters had already taken to the streets in Tel Aviv to protest the surrogacy amendment.[8] Chen Arieli, chairwoman of the LGBT Association, described that initial protest as a "historic day" and stated the movement's demands as "no to discrimination, no to violence, no to legislation aimed against us, no to ignoring our rights."[8]

The Aguda announced a nationwide strike for Sunday, July 22, 2018, describing the action as the first-ever national strike declared by Israel's gay community.[9] The organization called on community members, supporters, and partners to stay away from work and close their businesses.[9] Ohad Hezki of the Aguda later characterized it as the first strike in Israel not organized by a professional union.[10]

On the morning of July 22, thousands of demonstrators briefly blocked Tel Aviv's Ayalon freeway.[9] Hundreds gathered near the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem, and additional demonstrations took place in Haifa, Carmiel, and Beersheba.[9] Three people were arrested during the Jerusalem demonstration, though reports did not immediately clarify the cause.[9] A separate march by members of the transgender community was planned from Levinsky Park to Rabin Square, where the day's main rally was scheduled for 8:30 p.m.[9]

The Rabin Square rally drew tens of thousands of participants; police estimated attendance at approximately 100,000, according to Hebrew-language media reports.[11] Streets near the rally were closed, and demonstrators across Israeli cities waved rainbow flags, blocked traffic, and chanted "shame."[11] The Jewish Virtual Library records that the 100,000 participants included 7,000 people protesting transphobic violence and that hundreds of organizations and businesses were recruited for a solidarity protest.[4]

More than 40 companies publicly supported the strike, including the Israeli divisions of Facebook, IBM, and Microsoft.[9] Named employers that said they would permit workers to participate included Natural Intelligence, Fiverr, MyHeritage, Similarweb, Wibbitz, Teva, SodaStream, Shufersal, Cellcom, Pelephone, Isracard, Castro, and Israir, along with the Tel Aviv and Givatayim municipalities and the Jordan Valley Regional Council.[9] Ichilov Hospital, Magen David Adom, Netivei Israel, Haifa Port, and the Israel Airports Authority also announced policies allowing participation or warned of possible staffing-related disruptions.[9] El Al stated that it supported the community's struggle for equality and would try to enable employees to attend.[8]

Several companies paired their support with new family-benefit policies. Microsoft Israel's research and development center announced a NIS 60,000 payment for any employee using surrogacy to start a family, regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, or marital status.[9] Mellanox Technologies announced NIS 60,000 and one month of parental leave for employees using surrogacy, while also permitting employees to participate in the strike.[9] Surrogacy costs in Israel at the time were reported at approximately NIS 200,000, while gay couples forced to seek surrogacy abroad could face costs exceeding $100,000; one protester stated that his family had paid half a million shekels and traveled abroad to have children.[9][11] Julien Bahloul of the Association of Gay Fathers in Israel said that allowing domestic surrogacy could cut that cost approximately in half.[11]

On July 25, 2018 — three days after the strike — representatives of 14 LGBTQ organizations presented the government with a document demanding "full equality" and an "end to discrimination."[7] The document was organized into six categories: preventing violence against LGBTQ people; full recognition of gay families including equal surrogacy rights; appropriate social welfare; equality in health care; public education for tolerance and acceptance; and at least NIS 50 million in government funding for the LGBTQ community.[7] The organizers threatened to continue the struggle if the demands were not met.[7]

The strike did not produce an immediate change in the law.[10] In October 2018, the Knesset rejected a bill extending surrogacy rights to same-sex couples by a vote of 49 to 41, despite Netanyahu's stated support for the measure.[12] Ohad Hezki of the Aguda later reflected that while the protests did not immediately alter the legislation, they were significant in changing public awareness across Israeli society.[10]

The legal dispute continued after the 2018 strike and ultimately reached the courts. On February 27, 2020, Israel's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that same-sex couples and single men with a genetic connection to a newborn must have access to surrogacy agreements in Israel, holding that the existing exclusion violated the rights to equality and parenthood.[13] The court gave the Knesset one year to amend the legislation before the restrictions would be struck down.[12] Hezki later noted that the law was changed through action by the High Court and Health Ministry.[10]

The Israel Forever Foundation noted that many Israelis beyond the LGBTQ community joined the protests, presenting the episode as broad societal support for the principle that family-building rights should be equal across society.[14] The Jewish Virtual Library identifies the 2018 mass protest as the first of its kind in Israel's history.[4] The U.S. Department of State's 2018 human rights report confirmed that LGBTI activists in Israel were able to hold public events and demonstrations with few, if any, restrictions throughout 2018.[1]

Available sources report conflicting attendance figures for the July 22 demonstrations. Police estimates cited in Hebrew-language media put the Rabin Square crowd at approximately 100,000, while a MEMRI footnote described the broader Tel Aviv demonstration as having approximately 80,000 attendees.[15] The same MEMRI report separately quoted a figure of "over 250,000," though it qualified that figure as uncertain and presumably referring to the same event.[15]

The characterization of the surrogacy amendment itself is contested in the sources. CAMERA argues that the law did not newly block single men and gay couples — since they had not previously been eligible for state-supported surrogacy — but confirms that advocates sought their inclusion and that the amendment expanded eligibility only to single women.[3] Netanyahu's vote against the gay-inclusion clause is similarly described in varying terms: some reports attribute it to pressure from ultra-Orthodox coalition partners, while Netanyahu himself characterized it as a tactical decision to secure passage of the broader bill.[7]