BICOM

Protests in Israel against the high cost of housing are continuing. Yesterday, 500 activists from Tel Aviv’s ‘tent city’ on Rothschild Boulevard travelled to Jerusalem, where they marched to the Knesset. Outside the parliament, they held a sit down protest, calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to resign. Protests also took place in the southern city of Beersheva. In addition, a demonstration by doctors also took place in Tel Aviv yesterday. Medical Association Chairman Leonid Eidelman is leading an on-going protest intended to reach the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem in a few days. Eidelman told Yediot Ahronot that the medical system in Israel was ‘collapsing.’ Doctors’ protests are focused specifically on the low salaries paid to medical residents in Israel.

As response to the protests PM Netanyahu has cancelled a scheduled trip to Poland next week, in order to focus on what his office described as “passing legislation regarding reforms in the housing market, and with focused moves for the students, discharged soldiers, and young couples.” The prime minister, who is also health minister, is scheduled to give a press conference today, in which he is expected to present his government’s plan to battle the rising cost of housing in Israel. According to a poll conducted by Haaretz, 87% of Israelis support the housing protests.