One of the biggest productions in town has been running for the past four nights just outside Habima, Israel's National Theater. An impressive sleep-in tent city has been set up by several public figures and Eldad Yanivs Zionist Left party, which is still in its infancy. There are already about 100 such tents and Yaniv expects another 35 to be set up by the end of Monday. Yaniv is a well-known political strategist and knows the direction he would like this protest to take. He believes there is a new reality in Israel that makes it feasible to ask the government to do more than solve the cottage cheese household crisis [citizens succeeded in having the prices lowered after a widespread Facebook boycott a few weeks ago]. Yaniv would like to introduce a New Deal like in the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Benjamin Netanyahu is not at fault for this long-standing neglect, but he did have the unfortunate luck of having this explode on his watch. The protesters' discontent is coupled by another feeling, the same feeling Yitzhak Rabin believed incenses Israelis more than anything else: They hate being saps. The tycoons are taking over the economy and acquiring taxpayer money (through their pension funds). They are defaulting on their bond payments, but have not had to relinquish their assets. On Monday it was reported that two of Israel's wealthiest citizens, Nochi Dankner and Yitzhak Tshuva, will be next to default on some of their bond payments. This infuriates those middle-class tent-city dwellers who show up for their military reserve duty and feel that the nexus of the high-powered and high-valued has turned them into suckers. But the protesters have no policy of their own. They have put forth demands without going into details. MK Miri Regev (Likud) proposed a NIS 700,000 price cap for newly-built apartments. Real estate mogul Alfred Akirov claimed that the government must stop issuing tenders on plots for sale, since that increases their price. Others have said that the government must set a low, fixed price and hold a lottery among all the contractors who have been found suitable for construction. Not all claims must be accepted, despite their popularity among the general public. The government is not obliged to encourage the renting of apartments in Tel Aviv even if this may make Tel Aviv, the first modern Hebrew city, the exclusive property of the well-off. It should encourage affordable housing whose value is proportional to their proximity to this city that never sleeps. But where is the light rail system that would allow an easy commute? Where are the incentives for small housing unit construction? When will that blue collar employee who wants to help his son through college, or the tech guy who has been contributing to his pension fund, know that their money is not just trickling from their accounts into the hands of the tycoons- The government will act wisely if it opts to turn a blind eye, for now, to the fact that public institutions with vested political interests are meddling in the affairs of this tent city in the height of summer. Shraga Biran, one of Israels top real estate developers, claimed on Sunday that Netanyahus proposed housing reform is the remedy. I am no expert on this, but if this is the case, what are we waiting for- There are good people in these tents. But they need a home. Similar to the psalm: blessed is the man whose strength is in thee (King James Bible).
This is not a play or performance, but rather a large group of people protesting the skyrocketing home rental prices in Israel. This is not just a spontaneous protest. It is well-organized, which taints its innocence but reenforces the perception that those sitting in the tents have no plans to leave anytime soon. They have even overcome the intense heat.