TEL AVIV, Israel—Around 400,000 Israelis across the country joined street demonstrations Saturday, Sept. 3, to protest economic policies and other social issues in the country.
In what is being called the largest protest in Israel’s history, five percent of the population, an estimated 300,000 people in Tel Aviv and 100,000 in other cities, joined the demonstrations Saturday evening.
In response to the mass protests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that his government would make “tangible” economic change happen.
“My government is committed to carrying out tangible changes in order to ease the cost of living and correct social distortions,” the prime minister said in a statement.
The prime minister said that a committee he had established in August will submit its recommendations in two weeks. The committee was formed after weeks of protest and was to specifically look into the demands of the protesters.
Netanyahu said that when he receives the committee’s recommendations he will act quickly while keeping in mind “the correct balance between social sensitivity and responsible economics.” A stable economy was essential to support social change, he said.
The protests started in July when a small group began camping out in Tel Aviv, calling for housing reform in the face of high and increasing housing prices.
Nonetheless, the core demands heard from protesters still focus on issues such as the housing crisis, high commodity prices, and the rising cost of education.
Hundreds of tents were still pitched Sunday along Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, where the protest first started, although some were being taken down.
At the main rally Saturday in Kikar Hamedina, a large square in Tel Aviv’s center, protesters shouted slogans like, “The people demand social justice,” and listened to speeches and performances by popular artists supporting the cause.
While some demonstrators called for the overthrow of the government, others support the administration and urged it to fight cartels and restrict tycoons.
Itzik Shmuli, one of the protest leaders and chair of the National Student Union, said at the rally, “We are the new Israelis and the new Israelis will not give up.”
“The new Israelis demand change, and they will not stop fighting until real solutions are presented,” he shouted.
When Netanyahu first announced the committee, protesters said that his offers fell short of their demands.
Netanyahu replied that, “We will be unable to please everybody. One cannot please everybody.”
With additional reporting by Shannon Liao.
