The largest organization of trade unions has fully backed protesters ahead of a general strike, while thousands of parents marched with strollers and thousands more in a coordinated Gay Pride parade.
For those unaware, protests have taken Israel by storm in the past week, spurred by a housing crisis that has brought Israelis into the streets (with 30,000 in Tel Aviv on Saturday and many thousands more during the work week). Dozens of "tent cities" have been established in municipalities across the country, both large and small, with the largest in Tel Aviv now stretching for a mile.
In truth, the protests, initiated by Israel's young, progressive middle-class, is at its core about Israel's rising cost of living. They are about a squeezing of pensions and social programs. They are about a squeezing of the middle class, with the government neglecting the populace's needs in the face of corporate interests (sound familiar?) while saddling them with one of the largest tax burdens among democracies in the world.
It's a squeezing that Israel's populace is now, finally, rejecting vociferously, and their fury has been focused squarely on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who for the first time in his leadership appears vulnerable.
----------------------------
Important Developments
----------------------------
Organized Labor Back the Protests, Massive Rallies Planned
The Histadrut, Israel's largest and most powerful body of trade unions, has fully backed the "tent city" protests, pledging to throw their weight behind a general strike slated to begin on August 1.
Histadrut Labor Federation Chairman Ofer Eini met with leaders of Israel's housing protests in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, to tell them that the Histadrut will be joining their struggle starting Sunday and intends on taking part in the protesters' discussions with the government.
The meeting came several hours after Eini issued an ultimatum to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that the Histadrut would take all possible measures to help the housing struggle unless Netanyahu invites Eini and other officials to a meeting to provide solutions for the troubles of Israel's lower and middle classes by Saturday night.
Organized labor's support comes as the protesters are planning a general strike in the country, beginning August 1, a strike the Histadrut plans to support. Already, a Facebook page had 16,000 people pledging to participate, and that number will skyrocket with organized labor now on board.
Leading into the strikes, massive rallies have been planned for this weekend:
In addition to the demonstrations and road-blocking that have been going on daily, protest organizers are planning to hold five marches on Saturday night, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, Haifa and Nazareth. Each will end in a mass assembly. Organizers expect tens of thousands of people from all over the country to participate.
Thousand of Parents March With Strollers
Thousands of working parents on Wednesday marched in 16 locations throughout the country to protest the unsustainable rise in costs for the middle class.
Photo by Karen Kaufman for 972 Magazine.
Journalist Ami Kaufman, who participated in the Tel Aviv protest, had this to say:
...thousands of kids, parents and strollers took to the streets all over Israel. That hour was used up to the max. We yelled “Children – not only for rich people!”, and “Let’s remind the PM who pushes the cart (baby carriage)” and more. Even my kids had a ball, playing with the yellow balloons handed out.
It was the biggest stroller traffic jam in history, on one of the hottest and muggiest days yet, but everyone was smiling and hopeful.
It was an honor to be part of.
Annual Gay Pride Parade Joins Forces with Protesters
In Jerusalem, thousands marched for equal rights in the annual gay pride parade as "tent city" protesters and social justice protesters joined forces.
Prominent Groups Join Struggle
Some of Israel's most prominent authors visited the protesters in Tel Aviv as a show of solidarity, and two prominent women's groups urged women and parents to join the struggle:
The Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO ) and Na'amat women's organization joined the struggle against the high cost of living in Israel...
WIZO and Na'amat, who together with Emunah make up the three major organizations operating day-care centers overseen by the government, called upon parents to join demonstrations set to take place across Israel on Saturday.
Doctors Set Up Camp Outside Netanyahu's Residence
This from Haaretz:
Striking doctors arrived in Jerusalem on Friday morning and established a protest tent camp outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office.
The Israel Medical Association, led by chairman Dr. Leonid Eidelman, intends to attempt to present Netanyahu with a petition with tens of thousands of signatures calling to "save public medicine."
Eidelman and a number of other doctors plan to remain at the tent camp until the strike is settled. Eidelman has been on a hunger strike since Monday.
Opposition leader Tzippi Livni (Kadima) joined doctors as they marched in Jerusalem on Thursday, lending a strong and high-profile voice to their ongoing strike, which has gained momentum as the "tent city" protests continue.
Author's Note: Carlo Strenger has a scathing opinion piece in Ha'aretz worth a read. This part I found particularly potent:
They [Israel's middle class] had gotten used to be battered without responding: Israel’s tax burden is among the highest in the free world. Why not have a government that includes thirty ministers and vice-ministers, each endowed with offices, cars, protection and the like?
Israel has become a country in which doctors get paid less than babysitters by the impossibly hours they work, their patients’ lives endangered by their tiredness; in which doctors’ protests that have been going on for months are simply disregarded. Never mind that there is no minister of health.