(MintPress) – Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday, nearly 90 of whom were arrested, following the detention of Daphni Leef, an activist who led tens of thousands of Israelis to protests against widening social inequality in Israel in 2011.
In what was seen as a reignition of 2011 Tel Aviv protests, dubbed the “Cottage Cheese Protests,” demonstrators continued to highlight their concerns from one year ago, claiming the situation in Israel has only worsened. Protesters, including citizens ranging from high-level professions to students, cite a lack of affordable housing, food and a growing divide between rich and poor.
The Occupy Tel Aviv protests mirror those taken on by Occupy Wall Street protesters in the U.S. and around the world, with activists and everyday citizens hitting the streets to highlight issues related to inequality and rising prices for basic needs among middle- to lower-class residents.
Controversy over Leef arrest
The Jerusalem Post reported Leef was arrested, along with 11 other protesters, during demonstrations Friday in Tel Aviv, after police claimed Leef struck officers. She has said the arrest caused her injuries, including harm to her left hand and bruises throughout her body.
The Friday demonstrations that led to Leef’s arrest turned violent when police, citing the fact that protesters had not obtained permits to demonstrate, confronted the crowd, allegedly using force to move them out of the Capital.
Police Chief Yohanan Danino defended the police tactics in general, but admitted in a statement issued to the Times of Israel that the arrest of Leef could have been handled differently — he did, however, deny allegations of police misconduct and violence against protesters. Danino went on to say that protesters had plotted the violence, calling the demonstration “a planned violation of the law, designed to raise their issues on the public agenda.” Protesters, on the other hand, deny claims that they instigated the violence.
While Leef’s arrest may have spurred protests throughout Israel Saturday, the demonstrations were by no means merely because of Leef’s arrest, but a push for what Leef stood for, and what demonstrators see as a hardline approach by the government and law enforcement officials to quiet their pleas. The Times of Israel reported that protesters who gathered Saturday did, however, incorporate an anti-police state message into the demonstrations. Other reports indicated smashed store front windows in Tel Aviv.
Leef has denied statements made in the past labeling her as a “leftist,” claiming the ideals she holds to do not belong to the left or right, but to the people of Israel.
“As an individual I can tell you that I’m not right or left,” she said in 2011 to Israel National News. “I’ve lost my faith in the elected officials whoever they are. That’s why this protest is so important.”
The heart of protests
The protests that began in 2011 were intended to highlight the concern over the growing cost of food, paired with cuts by the Conservative government aimed at those living in the lower and middle class.
According to a 2011 report by the French Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Israel ranks fifth out of 11th in the world in terms of economic inequality, with indicators pointing to a vast divide between the rich and poor.
At the core of protests — both then and now — is the message that demonstrators are concerned with the direction the country is headed. Since the protests of 2011, which drew some 300,000 people to the streets, Israelis have demanded that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu change his approach to fiscal responsibility, which they claim have hit the middle- to-lower class the hardest.
As a result, demonstrators say the cost of living has risen to a point that’s unaffordable for many Israelis. Affordable housing, rent included, has grown far too high, they say, leaving many in a cycle of poverty.
The large number of protesters — 300,000 in a country with a population of just 7 million — was enough to grab the attention of those within the political system. The scope of protests included nearly 4.5 percent of the population. While perhaps not a startling number, a demonstration including the same percentage of citizens in the U.S., for example, would have included 13 million people.
The demographics of protesters was also varied, ridding the notion that the message of demonstrators was only shared among the young idealists.
In a BBC article, Revital Len-Cohen, a lawyer’s wife, told her story of taking to the streets in the midst of the Cottage Cheese Protests, in what she saw as a move she wouldn’t have predicted for herself. She told the BBC that her son, who had severe forms of learning disabilities, had received little help from the state. Although an educated woman, the lack of assistant meant she chose not to work to help her son.
“I’m really desperate,” she told the BBC. “This is a country where we pay our taxes and do our best but we’re now in a position where I’m having to beg from my parents to survive.”
Len-Cohen was one of many protesters in 2011 with disabled children. Set up in their own areas, such parents camped out, hoping to get their message across that their taxes were not going to uses they felt were fair.
Netanyahu addressed the protests of 2011 during a weekly Cabinet meeting, in which he promised to find solutions to Israelis’ concerns. According to the New York Times, Netanyahu acknowledged demonstrators’ concerns, but also pointed to a need to keep the country afloat, financially speaking.
“We know one thing: We want to find solutions that are economically sound,” Netanyahu said. “For if we end up bankrupt or face economic collapse, a reality in which some of Europe’s leading economies find themselves in today, we will solve neither the economic problems nor the social ones.”
Netanyahu assembled a committee of experts to address issues highlighted by protests, but many within the country claim little came from such discussions.
As he announced the creation of the committee, Netanyahu acknowledged the concerns of protesters, saying he was committed to providing solutions.
“We are aware of the fact that working couples with children are finding it difficult to finish the month,” he said at a weekly Cabinet meeting, according to the Global News Service of the Jewish People. “We recognize the plight of students who cannot pay their rent. We are aware of the distress of the residents of neighborhoods, of discharged soldiers and others. We want to provide genuine solutions.”
Nearly one year later, protesters are calling his bluff.