Quote:Israel Erupts in Protest, Tens of Thousands Chant "Revolution"
July 26, 2011 BJ Murphy

July 25, 2011

Approximately 30,000 protesters marched in Tel Aviv last night, with social justice activists blocking central streets and chants of "Mubarak. Assad. Netanyahu" filling the air.

Tel Aviv police arrested 42 activists, which is an extremely rare number, "if not unprecedented," according to +972 Magazine, which has been closely following the circumstances surrounding the sudden rise of Israel's progressive left.

This (and all) pictures are care of Activestills.org and +972 Magazine.

The protests are part of a larger movement that began as opposition to rising housing prices, and indeed is still centered around that issue, but has spread to other social justice and progressive causes.

These protests are being described as "the greatest challenge PM Netanyahu faces on the home front," and show that the progressive left in Israel has awoken.

Change in Israel may be coming.



Noam Sheizaf offers a good visual description of how, last week, these protests began to foment:

It happened almost overnight: Friday morning a week ago, walking near Habima Square in central Tel Aviv, I saw only a handful of tents, with no more than a few dozen Israelis who answered an internet call for an ongoing protest against rising rent costs. On Saturday evening the tents covered an entire block on Rothschild Boulevard, and protesters threw cottage cheese containers on the Likud HQ on nearby King George Street. A couple of days later, the tent protests came to dominate the news cycle.

Housing minister Ariel Attias (Shas) argued that the protesters were spoiled kids that refuse to leave the fashionable center of the country, but by Tuesday there were tents in Jerusalem, the southern city of Beer Sheva and as far north as Kiryat Shmona, near the Lebanon border (see a map of all the protests here). By Wednesday protesters tried to break into empty apartments in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; the tents on Rothschild Boulevard stretched several blocks, all the way from Habimah Square to Shenkin Street, and marches and rallies were scheduled for the weekend. The Friday papers declared that Binyamin Netanyahu sees the tent protest as the greatest potential political threat to his governing coalition.

The sign reads "Mubarak. Asad. Netanyahu."

These protests, which began as explicit anger at the rising rental prices in cities across the country, have been fueled by the response of Netanyahu's government, which initially, with hostile rhetoric, dismissed them as being part of a large, leftwing movement being funded by outfits such as the New Israel Fund. The initial rhetoric, which claimed that the protests were not about anything other than the "Zionist Left's" political agenda, only served to increase protesters' anger and resolve.

These reactions from Netanyahu and other government officials have served to broaden the protests, which have now moved from rent prices to a host of social justice issues: women's rights, union rights and education reform, among other things, with general chants of "revolution" heard on the streets last night.

What has yet to be heard, in the protests, are calls for more democracy in the wake of the anti-democratic laws that have recently been passed. Also absent has been the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, as these protest spread, and all indications are that they are going to continue as Israel's progressive left awakens I suspect that all of the above issues will become represented by the protests, which are taking on a large, general "anti-Netanyahu" bent.

The sign reads "Women Before Profits"

For the first time, last night, Israel appeared as its neighbors have for some time. Yes, the protests may have had a different genesis, but they share a common thread: anger with the current regime.

Things may be changing in Israel.

_______

Author's Note 1: Protests have moved in earnest to Jerusalem, where a thousand protesters blocked the entrance to the Knesset.

The protesters, who have set up camp in the city near the Prime Minister's residence, marched by Netanyahu's home on their way to the Knesset. As Haaretz reports:

On their way, the protesters passed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence and tried to block a nearby street while calling on Netanyahu to resign. They were consequently scattered by police forces and continued marching to the Knesset.

This, from Haaretz, shows that Netanyahu's frustration is clear:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebuked Likud ministers on Sunday for not trying to solve the housing crisis that gave rise to the mass nationwide protests.

Sources close to Netanyahu said he is extremely frustrated by the Likud ministers' lack of cooperation, not only in trying to find solutions but also for not defending the government in media interviews.

Meanwhile, more tent cities have sprung up throughout Israel, showing that this crisis only appears to be growing for Israel's ruling class.

Here are protestors before the Knesset, chanting in Hebrew "We Demand Social Justice." Pic courtesy of@ibnezra, aka Joseph Dana.

And in Haaretz, Gideon Levy addresses what many commentators have wondered: how could these protests impact larger political issues (such as I/P) in Israel? He writes:

If this unclear struggle by the renters of apartments on Shenkin Street is successful, matching the struggle against the price of cottage cheese, then additional Israelis will see that it is worthwhile, and that there is a chance and there is hope. Perhaps then they will go out and fight for matters that affect our fates to a much greater extent. If they see they have the strength to reduce the price of one-room apartments of 30 square meters, perhaps they will understand that they also have the power to change the nature of the country 22,000 square kilometers not including the occupied territories.

If the struggle succeeds against the tyranny of the apartment owners and the Finance Ministry which was what motivated them to go out and demonstrate perhaps they will find the way of struggling also against other more severe forms of tyranny. That is the big test before the people.

A political pilot project whose importance cannot be underestimated is taking place now on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, and in other tent cities throughout the country. It is up to the Israelis to blow an empathetic, encouraging and impassioned wind into their sails. We must now leave apathy and cynicism behind at home and go out to the tents.

Author's Note 2: Aziz Abu Sarah, in a very interesting piece called "Israeli housing protest makes no connection to the occupation," writes:

This argument doesn't hold water anymore. It seems like many Israelis didn't receive Mr. Daum's memo about Israel's golden era. On Saturday tens of thousands protested the housing problem in Tel Aviv. The main squares in Israel have become tent cities. Medical doctors and students are protesting their working conditions as the prices of food and gas are increasing rapidly. School teachers' paychecks are shrinking every year . The social democratic ideals upon which Israel was established are evaporating. The rich are getting richer and the poor remain poor.

Israel's low unemployment rate and high GDP are indeed impressive, but not necessarily indicative of a healthy community. China has the second largest economy in the world and has one of the highest GDPs. However, China is run by dictators and is filled with poor people. Many of Israel's poor are the employed poor.

What amazes me is many Israelis' inability to make the connection between the continuation of the occupation and the domestic problems Israel faces today; Israel is building constantly in the West Bank but it is failing to provide housing to its citizens within Israel proper. The current Israeli government's focus on improving living standards in settlements while failing to do the same for the rest of the country is a moral failure.

Author's Note 3: For additional reading on the "tent city" protests, I suggest the following:

+ Understanding the tent protests
+ Why we march tonight
+ Netanyahu rebukes ministers: give me ideas to solve housing crisis

Author's Note 4: Christy1947 has a diary up discussing the possible connection between Israel's housing crisis and the settlements, among other things. It's a very interesting read.

Source

Guillotine display stuns Rothschild's 'tent city'

French Revolution symbol becomes main attraction at Tel Aviv's protest center, as rallies continue to spread across country. Protest leaders say Beersheba to hold next mass rally
Ynet
Published: 08.11.11, 12:34 / Israel News



A guillotine, the symbol of the French Revolution, has been placed Wednesday in the center of Tel Aviv's "tent city," turning into one of the biggest attractions in this ongoing social protest.

The surprising display arrived in Rothschild Boulevard following another long night of protests across the country, this time focusing on contractor conditions. Demonstrators in five different cities participated in rallies Wednesday night against working conditions, wearing white masks and chanting: "Contractor companies are organized crime."

Quote:Israeli protests: 430,000 take to streets to demand social justice

Up to 300,000 take part in Tel Aviv, 50,000 in Jerusalem and 40,000 in Haifa in Israel's biggest ever demonstration

Harriet Sherwood in Tel Aviv guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 September 2011 11.40 BST

Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Saturday night in Israel's biggest ever demonstration to demand social justice, a lower cost of living and a clear government response to the concerns of an increasingly squeezed middle class.

About 430,000 people took part in marches and rallies across the country, according to police. The biggest march was in Tel Aviv, where up to 300,000 took part. There was an unprecedented 50,000-strong protest in Jerusalem, and 40,000 marched in Haifa. There were smaller protests in dozens of other towns and cities.

It had been billed as the "march of the million" but organisers said a turnout matching the 300,000-strong demonstrations four weeks ago would be a triumph. Israel's population is 7.7 million.

Saturday's demonstrations followed 50 days of protests that have rattled political leaders and led commentators and analysts to ask whether a new social movement would transform Israeli domestic politics for the next generation.

The movement, which has the support of about 90% of the population according to opinion polls, began when a small group of activists erected tents in Tel Aviv's prosperous Rothschild Boulevard in protest at high rents and house prices.

Tent cities mushroomed across the country and protesters rallied behind the slogan: "The people demand social justice." Among the issues raised were the cost of housing, transport, childcare, food and fuel; the low salaries paid to many professionals, including doctors and teachers; tax reform; and welfare payments. The government established a committee led by the economics professor Manuel Trajtenberg to examine the protesters' demands, which is due to report later this month.

Demonstrators in Tel Aviv on Saturday night blew whistles and banged drums as they marched in a carnival atmosphere to a large square for a rally. Residents hung banners from balconies and cheered as they passed.

"We are the new Israelis," the student leader Itzik Shmuli told the rally. "And the new Israelis want only one simple thing: to live with dignity in this country."

He added: "Tonight we make history again. The people are supporting a protest started by the young people and, a week after the protest was proclaimed over, we are on the verge of breaking another record. From now on the government knows that at any given moment Israelis can return to the streets and must therefore deliver the goods."

Daphni Leef, one of the organisers of the original tent protest, said: "This summer is the great summer of the new Israeli hope born of despair, alienation and impossible gaps … The Israeli society has reached its red line, and has gotten up and said: 'No more.' This is the miracle of the summer of 2011."

Under a homemade banner saying "Walk like an Egyptian", Ruti Hertz, 34, a journalist, said that until this summer people had been privately ashamed of their inability to make ends meet. "Each person was lonely in their situation, thinking it's my own problem." That had changed with the protests.

She said that she and her teacher husband, Roi, were living on the same income as when they met 10 years ago. "We don't ask for much, just to be able to finish the month without taking from our parents."

Roi's monthly take-home pay of 5,500 shekels (£940) went on nursery fees for their two young daughters, she said.

Vered Cohen Nitsan, a primary school teacher from Netanya, said she had joined the march "to protest, to support the people of my country and [because] I wish my children will have an easier life in the future".

She added: "For years, you think you just have to work harder and struggle. And now people start to talk to one another and you see it's not your personal problem."

At a rally in Haifa, Shahin Nasser, an Israeli-Arab, said: "Today we are changing the rules of the game. No more coexistence based on hummus and fava beans. What is happening here is true coexistence, when Arabs and Jews march together shoulder to shoulder calling for social justice and peace. We've had it."

The protests have been criticised by some on the left for not paying more attention to the discrimination suffered by Israeli-Arabs, who make up 20% of Israel's population, or Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Weekly demonstrations, whose turnout had been steadily building, were suspended for two weeks after an attack by militants near the Egyptian-Israeli border in which eight Israelis were killed. Some commentators suggested that the movement had lost its momentum.

Protest organisers said the tent cities would be dismantled but the movement would continue with other actions. Many tent-dwellers had already left as the Israeli summer holidays ended.

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Police stand by a bank on Ibn Gabirol Street in Tel Aviv after protesters smashed its windowsAlon Ron

On Friday, Leef and a dozen other protesters were arrested after several hundred activists tried to put up tents along Rothschild, the main site of last summer's social protest. Leef was dragged into a waiting police car, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to block the road with their bodies in an attempt to prevent the car from driving off.
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http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/thousands-of-israeli-protesters-block-streets-in-tel-aviv-clash-with-police-1.443389

Thousands of Israeli protesters smash banks windows in Tel Aviv, clash with police

The banks is Israel should be considered friendly pets and model citizens, compared to the banks in the United States.
View as PDF:
Protest of this scope and type was unanticipated in Israel. The banks is Israel should be considered friendly pets and model citizens, compared to the banks in the United States and some parts of Europe. One point is clear: The ongoing abuse, sustained by the People of the United States by the US banks and the US government, would not have survived in Israel for a week. In Israel, there is general draft, not a mercenary army, and there is no way that the military could be used against the People.
The recently submitted, Human Rights Alert (NGO) report on the state of Israel, was probably a first - a Human Rights report focusing on integrity, or lack thereof, in the electronic record systems of the courts. It documented that over the past decade, the courts in Israel, with help from large US corporations - IBM and EDS - have implemented fraudulent electronic record systems, mimicking the large-scale fraud in the state and federal courts in the United States, which is essential in enabling the current socio-economic crisis in the United States.
The 2010 Human Rights Alert (NGO) report on the United States was incorporated into the UPR staff report, with a note referring to "corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California".
LINKS:[1] 12-06-04 Human Right Alert's Submission; 15th UPR Working Group Session (Jan-Feb 2013): State of Israel Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/92826212/[2] 12-06-04 Human Right Alert's Appendix to Submission; 15th UPR Working Group Session (Jan-Feb 2013): State of Israel Integrity, or lack thereof, of the electronic record systems of the courts of the State of Israel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/82927700/[3] 12-06-08 Courts and Judges as racketeering enterprises under RICO (the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) - key element in the current financial crisis
http://www.scribd.com/doc/96504009/[4] 10-04-19 Human Rights Alert (NG0) submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council for the 2010 Review (UPR) of Human Rights in the United States as incorporated into the UPR staff report, with a note referring to "corruption of the courts and the legal profession and discrimination by law enforcement in California".
[URL="http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/"]http://www.scribd.com/doc/38566837/
[/URL]_________

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http://inproperinla.blogspot.co.il/2012/06/thousands-of-israeli-protesters-smash.html