The Israeli government is under heat now also from citizens who are normally indifferent to its immoral conduct. After a successful boycott of cottage cheese [4] that forced the producer to put down the prices, hundreds of Israelis are now taking to the streets in protest of lack of affordable housing [5], building a tent town on Tel Aviv's fashionable Rothschild Boulevard. Rents in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and most other large cities are so high that even people with average salaries cannot afford them. For example, a three-room apartment in central Tel Aviv is around 7,000 NIS (about $2,000). The average salary in Israel is 8,698 NIS, and minimum wage in Israel is 4,100 NIS.
MK Miri Regev of the rulling Likud Party came to the camping site to show solidarity, but she was chased out by the booing crowd who also threw water at her, as can be seen in this video [6]. Regev in response said: These are extreme leftist people. They have dreadlocks and they smell from alcohol.
PM Netanyahu, who is a neo-liberal who was educated in MIT, has a stance against government intervention in the housing market.
The protesters are planning to stay in the tents until the government will announce a serious plan for affordable housing for average Israelis.
Nirit Ben-Ari for New Jewish Resistance [7], July 16
See our last posts on Israel/Palestine [8] and the global econo-protests [9].
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