Channel 10 reported that 150,000 people took to the streets across the country, the majority of whom were in Tel Aviv, although large numbers showed up for demonstrations in various other cities.

At the same time that the protesters in Tel Aviv marched from Tel Aviv's Habima Square, the epicenter of weeks-long tent protests for affordable housing, protests were taking place as far north as Kiryat Shmona and Haifa, in Jerusalem, and as far south as Beersheba and Ashkelon. Other protesters took to the streets in Ashdod, Modi'in, Ra'anana and Nazareth.

Last Saturday, some 20,000 people answered a call by the protesters who have been living in tents on Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard for over two weeks now, initially organized to protest the high cost of housing.

The housing protests, however, have since turned into a wider call for social justice. Organizers promised that they would expand on their specific demands in the protest Saturday at a rally to take place outside the Tel Aviv Museum.

In Jerusalem, organizers said some 10,000 protesters set out on a march from the central Ben Yehuda pedestrian promenade through Kikar Zion toward Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's official residence. Police earlier estimated that there were over 4,000 people present. Protesters were chanting slogans calling for a social justice. Among the chants shouted by protesters, was, "We want social justice, not charity."

Speaking at the protest outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, Deputy Chair of the Student Union at Hebrew University Yael Sinai told demonstrators that the most important aspect of the protest was the public housing law.

Sinai called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to not pass the land reform law.

Another protester, a man named Ro'i who is living in one of the protest tents told the gathered crowd that he works four minimum wage jobs, noting that Israelis are working more and making less. "The Israeli economy is growing at our expense," he said. "I'm afraid that I won't be able to afford health care, education and housing." He told the crowd to "turn this fear into anger and action."

In Haifa, some 8,000 people turned out for a similar march, police estimated. Other estimates put the number of people closer to 15,000 people.

Alas, they can’t quite formulate what they want or quite how to go about achieving it. It’s all about the perceived exhilaration, not the practical solution. The buzz is the message.

They flaunt political affiliations like Hadash – the largely Arab remnant of the local Communist Party, which is today headlined by MKs Muhammad Barakei, Haneen Zoabi and token Jew Dov Henin. No wonder former Tel Aviv mayoral candidate Henin was welcomed with whoops and cheers in tent city, whereas Mayor Ron Huldai (Labor), who defeated Henin, was booed and rudely ejected.

Likud MK Miri Regev, a social activist in her own right, was denounced as fascist and doused with water. The fact that ritzy demonstrators blame their dire hardship on settlers should have tipped her off.

Political patrons purchased nifty tents for the sons and daughters of our well-to-do compatriots. These pampered radicals, with less-moneyed hangers-on, hanker after thrills. They yearningly eye Cairo’s Tahrir Square and cultivate visions of generating similar excitement here. Note the pervasive anti-Bibi/bring-the-government- down slogans chanted by the mobilized/manipulated thousands who joined their march last weekend.

The saddest facet of the farce is the uninhibited eagerness of politicians to hitch a free ride on the flimsy coattails of Tel Aviv’s chic set. Take the input of Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, for example. In a Yediot Aharonot op-ed, he self-importantly reminded us that “the upheaval in Tunisia, which felled its corrupt regime, began with the slapping of a cop’s face in the market. I suggest our government regard the Rothschild protest as a slap in its face.”