As Honestreporting [http://honestreporting.com/backspin-blog/] puts it:
"The Israeli protesters are exercising their freedom of assembly to pressure elected officials to respond, or get voted out of office. It happens quite frequently in Israeli politics.
And Israel already has the democratic institutions — such as a freely elected legislature, broad array of political parties, independent judiciary, free press, an army under civilian control — that Egyptians, Syrians, Libyans, and Palestinians can only aspire to build.
The crowds in Rabin Square and Tahrir Square aren’t climbing the same mountain.
Some journalists find the Arab Spring angle sexy, and the parallel is has some validity in terms of how the protests are organized. But in the end, I see the Israeli housing protests as a domestic political issue beyond the scope of HonestReporting’s work.
If the government decides to takes back Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square with tanks, helicopters, and snipers, that would be a paradigm shift."
Meanwhile I was in Zion Square this morning and saw the gratuitous damage - smashed plate glass windows of the new Hamashbir Store and the senseless graffiti ruining the Jerusalem stone facade of neighbouring buildings carried by Millis' mindless leftist thug friends. As a consequence many ordinary citizens have abandoned the protest in disgust - this is not what they signed up for which was to give the Government of the day a timely reminder that all is not rosy in the garden and poverty, deficiencies in the health system and the education system must take priority over dealing with the Palestinians who have indicated they are in n o hurry to sit down and talk. These are domestic political issues and unless you are citizen do not and should not really concern you.
But of course people intent on causing internal strife in Israel have other ideas.
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