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Israel Erupts in Protest, Tens of Thousands Chant “Revolution”. Change in Israel may be coming.
#1
Good to see this happening at last in Israel. Wonder where it will go?
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.
[Image: 5970234226_e07abd62b6_z.jpg]
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
[Image: 5972016828_d343d0bf9d_z.jpg]
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.

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"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#2
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”
Buckminster Fuller
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#3
I welcome the spoilt residents of a very spoilt nation to the real world.

Let's hope they can grow up.

btw, Netanyahu belongs in prison for life.
Reply
#4
GILAD ATZMON: THE LANDLORD WANNABE PROTEST
SUNDAY, AUGUST 7, 2011 AT 10:32AM GILAD ATZMON


It is almost amusing to find out that some of the most clichéd Marxists around are so taken by the current Israeli popular protest, which they foolishly interpret as a manifestation of the Israeli revolutionary spirit'. They are convinced that now that the Israeli working class' are rising, peace will necessarily prevail.

Yet in fact, what we are really seeing unfold in Israel ( at least for the time being ) is the total opposite of a working class' re-awakening. Indeed, some in Israel are calling it the Real Estate Protest,' because basically, those protesting want assets: they all wish to have property, a house of their own. They want to be landlords. They want the key, and they want it now. What we see in Tel Aviv has no similarity whatsoever to the struggles taking place in al-Tahrir or in Athens. At the most, the Israeli demonstrations mimic some manifestations of a struggle for justice or Socialist protest.

But that is where the similarities end.

Motti Ashkenazi ( a legendary Israeli anti establishment figure) wrote in ynet yesterday that "another Left is needed (in Israel), a Left that is primarily concerned with the poor of its country rather than with the plight of our neighbours." In clear terms that cannot be interpreted otherwise: Motti Ashkenazi is exploring what he considers to be a necessary shift in Israeli progressive' thought, and what he appears to conclude is, forget about Palestine; let's once and for all concentrate on us,' the Jews. Ashkenazi continues, "we need another Left, a modest one. Instead of a vision for the entire Middle East, it had better present a vision of the State of Israel."

Professor Nissim Calderon ( a lecturer in Hebrew literature ) also presented a similar line.: "We have erected a Left that has been focusing on the fight for peace, and peace only. But there is a huge hole in our struggle- we failed to struggle for social justice." Again Lefty' Calderon refers to the social struggle within the Israeli Jewish population.

The mass protest in Israel is, in fact, the complete opposite of a genuine social revolution: whilst it may present itself as a popular protest, in practice, it is a populist festival. According to reports from Israel, the leaders of the emerging protest are even reluctant to call for Netanyahu's resignation. The same applies to security matters, the occupation the defence budget- the organizers wouldn't touch these subjects in order not to split their rapidly growing support.

What we see in Israel is neither a socialist revolution; nor is it a struggle for justice. It is actually a bourgeoisie wannabe revolution', and the Israelis took to the street because each of them wants to be a landlord, to own a property. They do not care much about politics, ethics, or social awareness, and neither do they seem to care much about the war crimes they are collectively complicit in. Malnutrition in Gaza is really not their concern either. They seem to not care about anything much at all, except themselves becoming property owners.

But why do they want to own a property? Because they cannot really rent one. And why can't they rent? It is obviously far too expensive. But why is it too expensive? Because Israel is the ultimate embodiment of a corrupted, hard speculative, capitalist society. And I guess that this is the real untold story here. If Zionism was an attempt to solve the Jewish Question' , as the author Shahid Alam so insightfully explores, it has clearly failed since it has only managed to relocate 'the Jewish Question' to a new place, i.e. Palestine.

Zionism promised to bring about a new productive and ethical Jew as opposed to what it defined as the Jewish Diaspora speculative capitalist'(1). It clearly failed, and the truth of the matter is, that in the Jewish State, Israeli Jews are now being subjected to the symptoms of their own very problematic culture.(2)

Israel, that was supposed to be the state of the Jewish people, has become a haven for the richest and most corrupted Jews from around the world : according to The Guardian, "out of the seven oligarchs who controlled 50% of Russia's economy during the 1990s, six were Jewish." During the last two decades, many Russian oligarchs have acquired Israeli citizenship. They also secured their dirty money by investing in the kosher financial haven. Wiki leaks has revealed lately that "sources in the (Israeli) police estimate that Russian organised crime (Russian Mafia) has laundered as much as US $10 billion through Israeli holdings." (3) Mega-swindlers such as Bernie Madoff have been channeling their money via Zionists and Israeli institutions for decades. Israel is also a leading trader in blood diamonds. Far from being surprising, Israel is also the fourth biggest weapon dealer on the planet. Clearly, blood diamonds and guns are proving to be a great match. And it doesn't stop there -- every so often, Israel is caught engaging in organ trafficking and organ harvesting.

Increasingly, Israel seems to be nothing more than a vast money-laundering haven for Jewish oligarchs, swindlers, weapons dealers, organ traffickers, organised crime, and blood-diamond traders. On top of that, rich Jews buy their holiday homes in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem: there are reports that in Tel Aviv alone, thousands of holiday properties are empty, all year round, while native Israelis cannot find a roof.

The Israeli people are yet to understand their role within this horror show: the Israeli people are yet to grasp that they are nothing but the foot soldiers in this increasingly horrendous scenario. They do not even gather that their state maintains one of the world's strongest armies, to defend the assets of just a few of the wealthiest and most immoral Jews around.

I actually wonder whether Israelis can grasp it all. Yet the truth of the matter is, that the leaders of the present Israeli real estate revolution' want to maintain the struggle as a material seeking adventure, and they are clearly avoiding politics: the driving sentiment and motivation here is, obviously, give us the keys to our new homes and we clear the square.'

But I guess that it is not surprising that within such an inherently greedy society, the dissent that manifests will inevitably, also be reduced to sheer materialism.

It seems the Israelis cannot rescue themselves from their own doomed fate, , because they are blindly hijacked by their own destructive culture. As myself and a few others have been predicting for a decade or more, Israeli society is about to implode. It is really just a question of time.



1. Marxist Zionist Ber Borochov (1881-1917) argued that the class structure of European Jewry resembled an inverted 'class-pyramid', a structure in which a relatively small number of Jews occupied roles within the productive layers' of society as workers, whilst a significant number were settled in capitalist and speculative trades such as banking.

2. In Haaretz today Beni Ziper wrote, "I saw on television people shouting against the rich, or tycoons who control the country. Seemingly everyone thinks it's exciting and daring and nobody reflects on the chilling historical equivalence with the Depression in Germany at the time of Weimar Republic, when the rich Jews who control us' were targeted by everyone." Ziper is clever enough to notice a close and disturbing repetition in Jewish history. However, Ziper is also very critical of his countrymen. "So I'm all for protests against the state, but in no way against people or groups of people, be they rich' or (Jewish) Orthodox' or even settlers'. Whoever gives privileges to the settlers in this country and it's not that the settlers come and rob the cashier at gunpoint." Whether we agree with Ziper or not, it is clear that he also admits that there is a similarity between the arguments voiced in Israel against the rich, and the German right wing's anti Semitic attitude towards Jews in the 1920's-30's

3. For more information about global organised crime connections with Likud or other major Israeli political parties, follow this link http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC...hp?tid=147
http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/gilad-at...m=facebook
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#5
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

[Image: RM29680962_wa.jpg]

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."


More at the link...:

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,...40,00.html
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"
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#6
Expert committee appointed by Israel's social protesters to present findings in ten days
No timetable has been set for work undertaken by committee's sub-groups, comprised of some 60 academics and experts in fields of economics and social welfare.

By Ilan Lior
Tags: Israel protest Israel housing protest


An independent committee of experts formed in response to the tent protest movement will apparently release its interim conclusions within 10 days. One leading committee figure, Prof. Yossi Yonah, stated yesterday that a relatively long period of time would be required before final conclusions could be drawn.

"The protest movement is not going away," he added nevertheless.


Panel members Adina Bar-Shalom, Prof. Avia Spivak and Prof. Yossi Yonah appearing at a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday.

Photo by: Alon Ron

Yonah said his team's goal was to devise a new socioeconomic policy centered upon citizens' welfare.

No timetable has been set for work undertaken by the committee's nine sub-groups, which are comprised of some 60 academics and experts in fields of economics and social welfare, many of the identified with social democrat outlooks. Seven of these sub-groups have already held their first meeting; the two others should convene this week. At a press conference staged yesterday in Tel Aviv, Prof. Avia Spivak, a former senior official at the Bank of Israel, outlined three initial demands - the establishment of a two-year state budget, an increase in taxes, and the expansion of government expenditure.

"The government has come and said things to the public that, regrettably, are not true," Spivak charged. "The government says that budgetary allocations cannot be increased. That is an error. The basis for stability is forestalling budget deficits and ensuring that expenditures are not larger than revenues. If additional expenditure is funded by increased taxes, then there's no problem."

Heads of the independent committee expressed doubts about activity undertaken by the official team appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They said there was little chance that this government-appointed committee, headed by Prof. Manuel Trajtenberg, would bring about real change in public priorities.

"The public wants more government involvement," Spivak declared. "Current expenditure rules dictate that if more preschools for children are established, then budget cuts will have to be made somewhere else - but these rules do not allow the government to improve Israeli society. That's not the way to attain social justice."

According to Yonah, "Along the same lines of the great outcry being sounded by the tent camps, we too believe that something here has been lost, that something is out of control.

"We, too, believe that the government leadership has forgotten what the purpose of economic policy should be, that the economy should be at the service of the society, rather than society being compelled to serve the economy. The welfare state has turned into an impressively profitable enterprise, but its fruits are piling up only among the uppermost tier of the economy; they are not spreading to lower tiers."

Yonah stressed that his committee of experts was an independent initiative, and that its purpose was to assist those who were conducting the protests. He pledged that the committee would operate openly and in coordination with those who are leading the citizen protests.

Criticizing the Trajtenberg committee, he stated: "We have no desire to negotiate with an ad hoc committee established by the government; that's not our purpose. Like the protesters, we have no intention of discussing matters with committees whose goal is to mislead the public and to squander this opportunity to repair distortions in Israeli society." Heads of the tent protest movement, along with representatives of student organizations and youth movements, also held a press conference yesterday. They evinced support for the formation of this independent committee of experts and expressed skepticism about the prime minister's intentions and the Trajtenberg committee's ability to bring about real change.

Itzhik Shmueli, who chairs the National Student Union, said that student leaders had conferred with tent protesters concerning the composition of the Yonah-Spivak expert committee, but insisted that the committee was neutral and independent.

Shmueli suggested that the student union groups would agree to meet with the Trajtenberg committee should any such meeting be initiated.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/new...s-1.378799
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Reply
#7
Protests getting larger:

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.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
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#8
Thousands of Israeli protesters block streets in Tel Aviv, clash with police

Police arrest 89 after protesters smash windows of banks at Rabin Square, block major highway.

By Gili Cohen , Yaniv Kubovich and Asaf Shtull-Trauring | Jun.23, 2012 | 11:55 PM |


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Police arrested 89 demonstrators after more than 6,500 people converged in and around Tel Aviv's Habima Square on Saturday night, protesting the arrest on Friday of Daphni Leef, a leader of last summer's social protest movement.
The protesters blocked Ibn Gabirol Street north to Rabin Square, before moving and blocking Ayalon highway. Around 20 demonstrators were removed by police after breaking into branches of Hapoalim, Leumi and Discount banks.
Tel Aviv District Commander Aharon Eksel said Sunday that, "Protesters crossed the line. They set out to clash with the police."
A large police contingent was stationed in the city center starting Friday afternoon. The police had expected Saturday's demonstration, which they say is illegal and unlicensed. Other banks were targeted and a window at Bank Hapoalim at Gan Ha'ir was shattered.
Under the slogan "Emergency protest! Returning power to the people," demonstrators confronted the police, some of them from the elite Special Forces unit.
Activists said one of their number, Moshe Menkin, was arrested by an undercover police officer when he entered an abandoned building on Rothschild Boulevard that the police were using as a staging area.
Another demonstrator, Barak Cohen, said he was injured when a police officer kneed him.
"We came to create a confrontation, not to stand across from them," Cohen said. "You're fighting for your life and you have to fight them, without fear. They can carry out arrests and close off streets, but they can't affect the choices we make in our souls."
According to Sunny Arazi, another demonstrator, "Yesterday the police did everything to stop the protest, and it worked. The south is on fire, and if this demonstration succeeds, the firing in the south will continue. They'll do everything possible to disrupt the protest."
Earlier on Saturday evening, several hundred people gathered on Rothschild Boulevard near the Barnoar club for gay teens, where two people died in a shooting attack three years ago. A number of MKs met with the demonstrators, who included Ayala Katz, whose son Nir was killed in the attack.
[Image: 4285860990.jpg]

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.
The protesters knocked over trash cans and shouted chants criticizing Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Still, the car managed to leave the scene.
The police said Friday's protest was illegal, and that the demonstrators refused the requests of municipal inspectors to halt it. Protesters attacked the inspectors and the police at the site, the police said. Protesters cursed, spat and threw things at the officers, the police said.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/tho...e-1.443389



"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
Reply
#9

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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Thousands of Israeli protesters block streets in Tel Aviv, clash with policePolice arrest 89 after protesters smash windows of banks at Rabin Square, block major highway.
By Gili Cohen,Yaniv Kubovich,Asaf Shtull-Trauring |Jun 23, 2012 |11:55 PM
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Social protesters in Tel Aviv.

Photo by Alon Ron

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Social protest demonstrators near Habima ...

Photo by Alon Ron

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Police arrest a demonstrator during a pro...

Photo by Tomer Appelbaum

http://inproperinla.blogspot.co.il/2012/...smash.html
"The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it." Karl Marx

"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.

“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.
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#10
Al Jazeera is on this story now - with some interesting footage of protesters wrestling with the Police!...they certainly gave the Police a hard time and are angry.....at last...let us hope this grows....! There always has been a significant progressive movement in Israel, but it has been suppressed [and not reported on] as in most countries.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
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