A couple of people have asked about my take on the protests here. I don't have a very sophisticated view of it, and I'm not an economic analyst. Israel is a strong (though slightly screwed up) democracy, where the members of Knesset don't really have to answer back to the people, as they are not directly elected by people in a particular district. Here you vote for a party, the party has a slate of candidates, and depending on the percentage of the votes the party receives, the number of candidates from the slate get seated.
Parties have platforms and jargon and rhetortic, and the party you vote for today could disappear after the election and the members join another party. Without accountability to the electorate, special interests intercede to get MK's to do what they want, not necessarily what is best for the country. The best case-in-point, in my opinion, is the horror created in the education funding, and the hundreds of millions of shekels that have gone over the last 15-20 years or so to a third track of ultra orthodox schools (primarily because of the influence of the Shas party) that quite frankly isn't training its students for productive lives in the 21st century. They are being trained for a life of Torah study (as they define it) without the math, science and general knowledge to be productive in modern society, so that they will continue to be beneficiaries of a state welfare system and the generosity of private donors (I find it curious that this was never Judaism's intent. Talmudic rabbis had vineyards, were wood choppers or blacksmiths and supported their families in addition to their studies). The other school systems struggle as a result, and no one is getting top rate education without having to pay for it privately.
It is expensive to live here. Prices are high, salaries are frozen. Preschool childcare is private and expensive, often consuming most of one spouse's salary (not so different for many people in the US). Food costs, after the gradual removal of government subsidies (like the Cottage Cheese protest of late June) are rising. Gas costs twice what it costs in the US, cars are taxed 100% costing twice what they cost in the US, and people are starting to see "Hey, I'm not in this alone, and I'm not lazy, most of us are struggling." Facebook is playing a major role in helping people get organized, and bringing people together (not unlike the Arab Spring we witnessed) for protests.
I have a hard time following the local news. They speak fast, with a specialized and jargony vocabulary, and on talk shows, it's sort of like John McLaughlin (Washingtonians will understand) where everyone talks over everyone else and its hard to follow what everyone is saying. One of the best treatments I read was actually written in DC by our Shaliach, Anton Goodman, and you can find it at http://www.shalomdc.org/blog_post.aspx?id=4220.
People are frustrated and fed up. The government is looking around at last week's economic news, east and west, and saying we can't afford to start doling money out now if an economic tsunami (the term that was used on a talk show I saw this morning) is going to wash over the world. They want to keep a reserve. There is growing pressure on the government to do something, but what is still very unclear, as the protesters are asking for the moon and stars (free child care from age 3, 6 months paid maternity leave (its currently 14 weeks, I think)) and there is no clear demand much beyond a sense of frustration.
It seems every summer there is some kind of tent city; last year it was over the issue of the treatment of foreign workers and the government's threat to start deporting them. This year's is larger, and reaches beyond Jerusalem - I've seen tent cities (20 or so tents) at the entrance to Gadera, Kiriyat Shemona, Rosh Pina, City Hall in Herzliya in addition to at least 3 parks in Jerusalem. It is a bit like the movie Network; people are mad as hell and they don't want to take it any more.
It is nice to see democracy working. People protest peacefully, the police act appropriately, there is no vandalism or violence. Maybe how we protest will make us, finally, an or lagoyim, a light to other nations.
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