This is a cross post from Marc’s Words
People’s frustration at the fact that they will never be able to afford their own home or be able to buy a brand new car is the reason that they are demonstrating.
Every Israeli knows that “the state will fuck you”. As a new immigrant I was surprised by the passion of Israelis when they told me that if they had a British passport they would leave Israel immediately. I have spent years ignoring this discontent or writing it off as being a “grass is always greener phenomenon”, but now that the discontent has boiled over and become a tangible thing I am forced to confront what has been staring me in the face since I moved to Israel in 2001. People are not happy in Israel and they are sick and tired of paying over the odds for everything from toothpaste to cars.
This is the long and short of the argument, anything else, particularly Bibi’s comments that this is some kind of left wing conspiracy, organised with the sole intention of removing him from office is a nonsense.
What is interesting is that Bibi immediately attempted to legislate his way out of the problem with fast track housing laws, exactly what the protestors didn’t want him to do. His attempt to simply pull the rug out from underneath the demonstrators rather than actually deal with them and listen to their concerns doesn’t seem to have worked.
This isn’t about quick fixes or papering over the cracks
Pesach Hausfater, the coordinator of the Dror Yisrael movement, called passage of the law “a stinging, painful slap in the face by the Israeli government” according to Ha’aretz (full article here). Carlo Strenger, the Ha’aretz columnist wrote in the Guardian’s Comment is Free the other day that:
“But it could also be that Israel’s secular middle class will feel this is its last chance to assert its rights against the coalition of national-religious, extreme right and ultra-Orthodox parties, and that this is the moment to stop Israel’s move to the right that is pushing the country towards an apartheid regime, moral, economic and political bankruptcy”.
I hate to break it to him…it isn’t and it has nothing to with any of this stuff. He is just as guilty as Bibi for not listening to what the protesters are actually saying.
No one in Tel Aviv is interested in Ha Matzav people have absolutely given up caring about it or expecting a change. The government doesn’t reflect Tel Aviv any more, the people who fund the country are utterly ignored by the people who are spending their money, the least that could happen is that these same people could be allowed to enjoy a decent standard of living while the country is utterly failing them in every other way.
Someone else is going to have to fight against the Haredim and the right wing loons – this is about the “sushi eaters” not anyone else!
