Israeli upheaval
July 31, 2011
Confronted by a growing popular revolt, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the creation of a committee to look for ways of getting to grips with the country's rising cost of living.
The task force is to be charged with developing a "responsible and implementable plan to ease the economic strain on Israeli citizens," the prime minister said at his weekly cabinet meeting.
"We are all aware of the real hardship of the high cost of living in Israel," Netanyahu added.
Sharp rise in housing prices
The move came in response to growing popular protests against the high cost of living in general and, in particular, Israel's skyrocketing housing prices, which have increased by more than 60 percent over the past four years.
The demonstrations, which entered their 18th day on Sunday, also claimed their first political victim. The Israeli finance ministry's director-general, Haim Shani, announced his resignation, citing “differences of opinion on essential issues” with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of cities across the country. The largest demonstration was in Tel Aviv, where local media reported that at least 70,000 had joined the protests. Police estimated that at least 100,000 people were protesting around the country.
The protest movement began earlier this summer, when some Israelis responded to the rising cost of cottage cheese by using the social media website Facebook to organize a boycott. The price of the local staple quickly came down.
The demonstrations began again in mid July when a small group of mainly students and recently discharged soldiers set up a tent city in Tel Aviv to draw attention to the lack of affordable housing in the city. Similar tent cities soon sprang up in other Israeli cities.
Dampening expectations
There was no indication on Sunday that the creation of the new task force would be enough to ease popular discontent.
At the same time as he was announcing its creation, Netanyahu also appeared to play down expectations, warning against "populist" and "irresponsible" measures and against overspending, "which could pull the nation down to the situation of certain states in Europe, which reached the verge of bankruptcy and mass unemployment."
Finance Minister Steinitz, a member of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party, echoed that sentiment, referring to the debt crises in some European Union states as well as the looming danger of default in the United States.
"My supreme duty is to ensure we do not reach this situation in the State of Israel," Steinitz said.
Author: Chuck Penfold (dpa, Reuters, AFP)
Editor: Kyle James