Scores of interest groups, from taxi drivers to students, joined the ’social justice’ protests. These were some of the largest demonstrations in Israeli history, with 200,000 people taking to the streets.
By now, what was trumpeted as a grassroots Facebook revolution has clearly taken the shape of a well-managed political campaign aimed at ousting Netanyahu. The extensive media coverage of the protesters also confirms the hand of leftists, who control the media.
Their demands are so absurd that it is impossible for the government to meet them. Not even European welfare states have the kinds of price controls and subsidies the protesters demand. Netanyahu’s economically conservative government is not expected to adopt any of these policies. The protesters’ economic slogans, therefore, amount to a demand for a change in government. The participation of the Histadrut trade-union monster confirms that the government the protesters desire is that of Histadrut-supported Kadima. That the protesters evicted the settlers who tried to join them with housing demands also supports this conclusion.
Now, the protesters are correct that Israeli consumer standards are extremely low. They are even partially correct in their demand for the lowering of the defense budget, which funds a conventional army which Israel does not need. They are wrong, however, in their prescriptions: defense budget cuts should be used for lowering taxes, not for rising subsidies; and the answer to our economic ills is deregulation, not price controls.
The protesters have aligned themselves with foreign elements who want Israel demilitarized under a Kadima government that can be expected to sign any agreement with the Palestinians dictated from Washington. There is no doubt that by now the protest movement has been completely hijacked by the White House, which seeks Netanyahu’s ouster.
