Hundreds activists protesting high housing prices marched yesterday (Monday night) to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, and several dozen protesters then proceeded to block Gaza road across from Netanyahu's residence.
Housing protests have gained momentum in several cities across Israel, and activists from the Tel Aviv protest joined the Jerusalem protesters in marching to the Prime Minister's Residence while shouting slogans such as "Welfare State Now", "Bibi (Benjamin Netanyahu) degage!" and "We Want Social Justice, Not Charity." In Tel Aviv, protestors blocked a road adjacent to the Azrieli Towers and chanted, "Netanyahu wake up – the public is worth more." Tents were set up in the junction. One demonstrator said: "We are sorry we are forced to block roads and disrupt routine but there is no more normal behavior in Israel. I don't believe the prime minister."
Some 500 people protesting against the housing crisis marched from the Tel Aviv's tent city on Rothschild Avenue to the Cinematheque, where they joined a rally held by medical interns. The protesters chanted "the people demand social justice," among other slogans. Hundreds of medical interns and doctors rallied in front of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque in protest against the Finance Ministry.
Moreover, hundreds of students and residents in Be'er Sheva were marching in protest of high housing prices, and residents of unrecognized Arab-Bedouin villages in the Negev also joined the demonstration.
Earlier Monday, Netanyahu decided to cancel his scheduled visit to Poland this week. Netanyahu's cancellation was likely caused as a result of the rising housing crisis in Israel and the mass protests that have sprouted in various cities. Netanyahu most probably feared that his trip abroad would have amplified the public protest, in which demonstrators have largely blamed Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz. Yesterday hundreds of activists blocked major roads in Haifa, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva as part of the housing crisis protests. In central Haifa, scuffles broke out between activists and drivers who were forced to stop. Eight activists were arrested in Paris Square in Jerusalem after refusing to clear the road. Dozens of activists also blocked a road at the entrance to the Knesset. Five were arrested and one police officer was injured.
General Strike
Meanwhile, a new Facebook protest page went up Monday calling for a general strike on August 1. So far more than 10,000 people said they will participate. The page was created by social activist Zvika Bessor, a 36-year-old Givatayim resident and father of a one-year-old baby. He wrote that he bought an apartment "with a crazy 30-year mortgage," and explained why he decided to go on strike: "I am sick of it. I can't keep going to work every day as if nothing is happening, pretending that if I work hard enough I'll be able to provide a decent life for my family and myself." The Hadash fraction in the Histadrut (Israeli Federation of Labor) demands a general strike in solidarity with protesters
Another Facebook protest page created Monday called for a "tent city strollers march." The organizers called on fathers, mothers and single parents to march in central Tel Aviv on Thursday with their children and strollers.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of people marched in downtown Tel Aviv to protest rising housing prices, the first major demonstration in a movement calling attention to Israel's soaring cost of living.
Dozens set up a small-scale tent city protest in south Tel Aviv’s Lewinsky Park on Monday, less than a day after municipal workers expelled a similar protest at the same spot. Demonstrators began arriving at the park at 7 p.m., and eventually faced off with a single clerk from the municipality who repeatedly warned them that if they pitched any tents they would be confiscated. Chanting “South Tel Aviv wants social justice,” protestors took turns making remarks into a single megaphone, while a few children of African migrants helped paint and color protest signs.
Aharon Madu'el, a city council member from the Ir LeKulanu (City for All) faction, said, “Of course we see the discrimination here very clearly. [Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai] lets it take place on Rothschild but not down here, we’re not sure why, but we see it as a clear form of discrimination.” Speaking to the crowd later in the evening, Madu'el, a resident of south Tel Aviv’s Kfar Shalem neighborhood said, “here are the single mothers, the drug addicts, the Sudanese [refugees] who sleep here in the day and night on the benches and the stairwells, Huldai knows that a tent protest here is a legitimate protest ... I call on all of you not to give up, even if the police come to break up the tent city, we will win eventually.”
Haaretz poll shows 87% of Israelis support housing price protests
More than half the population is unhappy with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the tent protest, according to a Haaretz poll conducted yesterday. The poll also shows that an overwhelming majority of the public supports the protest and believes it stems from real distress.
Asked whether the tent protest stemmed from real distress or was a political protest against the government, 81 percent of the respondent replied that it stems from real distress, while 87 percent said they supported the protest. Only 9 percent of those interviewed said they did not support the protest and 4 percent had no opinion.
More than half the respondents, 54 percent, said they were not satisfied with the way in which Netanyahu was handling the crisis; 32 percent expressed satisfaction with the prime minister's performance, and 14 percent did not have an opinion either way. According to the poll, 54 percent of the public is unhappy with Finance
Yuval Steinitz's performance, while only 22 percent were satisfied with his work; 24 percent had no opinion.
Some 55 percent of the respondents believe the tent protest will lead to a reduction in housing prices, compared to 31 percent who predicted it would not bring about any change; 14 percent failed to express an opinion on the subject.
Also in the poll, a sweeping majority - 85 percent of the public - supports the doctors' struggle to improve their conditions, while only 9 percent do not support the struggle and 6 percent have no opinion.
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/activestills/
Related Housing crisis: Protestors block entrance to Knesset
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