Taking Cues From Arab Spring, Israelis Protest Economy
In Israel, it’s the economy, teepesh.
Anger over the Jewish state’s economic situation has resulted in mass protests, ranging from Facebook campaigns to student and labor union protests in a similar version of the Arab Spring that rocked the Middle East earlier this year.
The protests have been spreading through the country since June, when a Facebook campaign to boycott cottage cheese due to high costs quickly gained over 75,000 members.
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Two weeks later, students demanding changes to increase affordable housing created several “tent settlements” near Tel Aviv universities as well as along the ritzy Rothschild Boulevard. These protests have started a national movement over the high prices over food and housing that has been rocking the country and putting pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act.
According to Nitzan Horowitz, a member of Israel’s opposition party, Netanyahu’s policy actions are to blame for the protestors’ anger over disparity in income and property prices.
"These are young, educated people with good-paying jobs but who have no chance of being able to buy an apartment," Horowitz told the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. And although solutions have been proposed, “Netanyahu was blocking them all,” he added.
Although students have been the face of the housing protests, others share their sentiment. Noga Stern, 41, lives with her husband and eight children in a 580 square-foot apartment outside of town. She came with her entire family to join the cause. "I cannot raise my children decently in these conditions, and if we don't fight now for their future, they will really be living in the street in 20 years," she told AFP.
The garbage collectors have also made their presence felt, or lack thereof, by going on a one-day strike. Shlomo Buhbut, president of the Local Authorities Union, told the AFP that “the municipalities are closed to the public and rubbish collectors will not be emptying rubbish bins."
The labor union’s action is part of a general protest over Israel’s vast income disparity.
With young people taking to the streets and Facebook playing a role in the protests, there are many similarities to the Arab Spring. However, no violence has been reported and, according to several news reports and photos on Flickr and Facebook, the tent settlements have had just as much guitar-playing as political dialogue.
Nonetheless, there is a deep desire for change, says Nachum Barnea, senior political analyst for the daily Yedioth Acharonoth.
“People are simply fed up and unhappy, and they are taking to the streets until things change. Without specific demands for negotiation or anything,” he told the Global Post.
“They just want change. And they are patient.”
