Monday, September 26, 2011

Manuel Trachtenberg and his social justice solutions

B”H 

Professor Manuel Trachtenberg and his committee have now published their first proposals in order to solve the present severe social problems in Israel. 

Not enough affordable places to live, education (whether schools and universities) is too expensive, let alone the extreme prices for groceries. Two months ago, the social uproar in Israel began. First, a Haredi from Bnei Brak started a Facebook group. On the social network he protested against the exaggerated cottage cheese prices. Within less than a year, prices for dairy products have been just exploding. 

Based on the Haredi's success, Israel’s extreme left got the idea to even start a bigger protest. Left – wing organizations saw their political chance to overthrow the government by focusing on social matters. Thus, the first tent demonstration at Rothschild Boulevard / Tel Aviv came into existence. 

Although most protestors of the hundreds of thousands were not leftists at all, social issues concern all of us. Netanyahu reacted a bit despite the fact that he is not interested in ordinary citizens and their problems. He appointed the Argentinian born economy professor Manuel Trachtenberg as the head of a committee researching social matters and how to solve them. Whether Netanyahu agrees or doesn’t do anything in the end, is up to him. Trachtenberg only does his job by suggesting certain chances. Parts of the committee's plan were published today and, as expected, the extreme left announces that all of Trachtenberg’s points are not acceptable. 

For instance, he suggested that 250,000 apartments will be build within the next five years. Owners of empty and abandoned houses have to pay a higher tax on their property. Special parts of education should be for free. 

Who would be paying for all of this ? The tax payer, of course. Furthermore, a three billion budget cut in the Ministry of Defence. The lobbyists have already started their jobs and the army claims that the Iron Dome around Beersheva or Ashkelon could not work with a severe budget cut. However, one issue is very clear: The last tents at Rothschild Boulevard will be evicted next Sunday (after Rosh Hashana). 

This morning I went to Rothschild Boulevard and these may be the last photos of the remaining tent demonstration:


The tent protest is over, the fight begins.



Half of Rothschild Boulevard has already been cleaned up




Photos 26 September 2011: Miriam Woelke

2 comments:

  1. B'H

    Those who are still present on Rothschild Boulevard are the unemployed. Otherwise, I cannot understand how is it possible that they are still there.

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