Tent Revolt in Tel Aviv

2CommentsJoin

Sign-up for free weekly updates from ForeignAffairs.com.

Along Tel Aviv’s most expensive boulevard, where apartments sell for millions of dollars, hundreds of Igloo-shaped tents line the streets. They first appeared on July 14, when a dozen or so young Israelis, responding to a Facebook invitation, set up camp to demand affordable housing. The demonstrations soon spread -- tens of thousands joined in solidarity and added a whole host of social issues to the protest, from conditions in public hospitals to the cost of raising children.

Commentators and politicians disagree about the reasons behind the protest. But they agree that it represents the most powerful social unrest Israel has seen in decades. Never before have so many Israelis taken to the streets over social issues; huge demonstrations have historically been confined to security and peace debates. Now that the peace process has stalled and overall security is relatively stable, the protests have dominated the news cycle and changed the national conversation. 

With over 300,000 protesters in the streets this weekend, the demonstrations seem to have no end in sight. Yet even so, the protesters’ grievances remain vague and unfocused. Some call for an end to Israel’s decades-old privatization process and an expansion of the welfare state. Others demand an end to cartels and import taxes -- cornerstones of free-market philosophy. The unifying factor among them is anger toward the status quo. And as the protests widen, they could spark a massive social and political shift in Israel.

For all of their import, the protests look and feel like something between a music festival and a political commune. There is a collective kitchen and an eating tent serving three meals per day for the hundreds of demonstrators camped out in Tel Aviv. An area for "elders" -- those living in the tent city for more than two weeks -- features signs saying "here lives a Ph.D. graduate and a waitress," "Revolution is done with Love, or not at all," and "All of Israel are tents." A compost corner gives the campsite a funny smell.

Given the carnival-like atmosphere of the protests, originally made up of young Tel Avivians, many Israeli political figures were initially dismissive. The demonstrators were and are still being called everything from "spoiled left-wingers" to cheap "Che Guevaras." Had the protests remained in Tel Aviv, Israel’s most liberal city, those labels would likely have stuck. But tent camps have risen across the country, from the border with Lebanon to the heart of the Negev Desert. According to a recent Haaretz poll, 87 percent of Israelis support the protests. A Channel 10 survey found that 85 percent of Likud voters also back the demonstrations.

The demonstrators, then, are not just "sushi eaters" from Tel Aviv, as one Likud politician called them; they are middle-class Israelis -- taxi drivers, doctors, and mothers who are angry about a variety of issues, including working hours, the rising cost of living, and the growing gap between rich and poor. Since the 1970s, Israel has experienced extensive deregulation and privatization, shifting from a welfare state with relatively controlled market prices to a free market focused on encouraging competition.

This shift has ostensibly strengthened Israel’s economy. Most recently, Israel emerged from the global economic crisis relatively unscathed, and, according to the Bank of Israel, boasts 4.8 percent growth and six percent unemployment this year. But economic success has contributed to inequality, creating unprecedented wealth for some yet failing to benefit the middle class. According to Meitav Investment House, a respected financial firm in Israel, the price of groceries has risen 16 percent since 2007 and the cost of fuel has risen 19 percent. Deregulation has allowed cartels and monopolies to stifle competition in many sectors. For example, two large manufacturers control the baby formula market in Israel. When they raised prices earlier this year, the cost for baby formula rose by 15 percent nationwide, outraging consumers. Thanks to artificial pricing set by the government, olive oil is more expensive in Israel than in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that olives are grown in Israel. And many argue that privatization has led the government to neglect social services such as public transportation, education, and health.

Housing prices, however, are the main catalyst of middle-class revolt. The majority of Israel’s land is held by the state, under the control of an administrative authority that Netanyahu himself recently described as a "cartel." The administration sells the land to highest bidders in a convoluted process that often takes months. This difficulty with building new housing comes at a time when Israel’s population is increasing, foreigners are purchasing more homes in the country, and the government has decreased publicly funded housing.