The law, he said, “Destroys planning mechanisms and environmental protections.” Because the bill does not “actually oblige contractors to build once plans are approved,” Khenin added, “There is no acceleration of construction. Additionally, there is nothing that guarantees building transportation infrastructure or industry, public buildings and education”

Tent protest spokesman Roey Newman also slammed the prime minister over the bill’s passage, saying that Netanyahu and the government “demonstrated absolute insensitivity to all of Israel’s citizens.”

Noting that some 150,000 people took to the streets last weekend to demand social justice, he added that the housing reform law “shows that the Israeli government doesn’t care about its citizens, only the wealthy citizens.”

The Student Union, which has played a considerable role in the ongoing protests, also came out against the law a short time after the Knesset vote. National Student Union chairman Itzik Shlomi said that the law’s passage was disappointing and destroyed public faith in chances of having dialogue with the government.

Prior to the vote, hundreds of affordable housing protest activists – who voiced fierce objection to the bill, rallied in Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Kiryat Shmona and Kyriat Tivon. Hundreds rallied outside the Knesset in Jerusalem and threatened to block all of the entrances to the Parliament building in an attempt to stop the vote. The rally was eventually dispersed and four were detained by Jerusalem Police officers.

Leaders of the housing protest, who were sitting in the plenum’s gallery during the vote, including Stave Shafir, were removed from the premises after standing up and making the ‘X’ hand gestures – which has become the protest’s symbol – to express their disapproval.

The affordable housing movement has vowed to escalate its protest measures should the bill mature into a law. Its leaders have already issued a public call for another mass rally this coming Saturday night.

Prime Minister addressed the Knesset plenum Wednesday, in one of the most heated debates that the House has held over the past few weeks. “Populism is sweeping through the country,” Netanyahu said.

Dairy Farmers Marched in Tel Aviv

Thousands of dairy farmers marched yesterday night in central Tel Aviv chanting “Bibi fight the tycoons, not the dairy farmers” and “Bibi is against the dairy farmers.”  The farmers are protesting a planned “reform” in the dairy industry, which would lower the price they would get for their milk and increase imports of dairy products. The farmers say these recommendations run counter to a law enacted just this past March that enshrines the farmers’ rights.

After handing out bags of milk to occupants of the main protest tent on Tel Aviv’s Rothschild Boulevard, the farmers marched toward the Tel Aviv Museum, chanting, “The people want Israeli milk!” They called for Netanyahu’s resignation and booed loudly whenever his name was mentioned; they also denounced Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon.

Today, a mass workers’ assembly in Tel-Aviv will be held by the Histadrut (Federation of Labor in Israel) to support people protesting against the high cost of living in the country. Dozens of unions and twenty thousands of people are expected to gather in front of the Histadrut building in Arlozoroff Street where a rally expressing solidarity with the protests.

At the same time of the Histadrut assembly, they will be three large demonstrations in Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Be’er Sheva by junior staff lecturers in the universities and school teachers, for public education and against privatization.  In the afternoon, Tel-Aviv parents will take center stage, as they protest the high cost of living via marches throughout the country. Their demands include free education from the moment paid maternity leave ends, longer maternity leave, tax breaks for child care and price controls on basic baby-care products.

More Protests among Arab-Palestinians in Israel

The organizers of the tent protest yesterday added two demands of the Arab community to the list of demands they are drafting to deal with their grievances. Arabs are demanding state recognition of the unrecognized villages throughout the country, especially the Arab-Bedouin communities in the Negev, and the approval of master plans that would expand local authorities’ jurisdiction, to enable construction.

“These are two fundamental issues and I hope the protest organizers, who support them, will insist on them. The Arab community’s main problem is the terrible housing shortage due to the absence of territory to build on,” Hadash secretary general Att. Ayman Odeh said.

Odeh and several other Arab activists met with the protest organizers at their headquarters in the tent city on Rothschild Boulevard in the last few days, debating issues regarding the Arab public. A few days ago, Arab activists set up an encampment in the center of Taibeh and hundreds of people visit it every night.

“This is a social protest stemming from profound distress in the Arab community. All Arabs suffer from the cost of living and housing shortages,” one of the organizers, Dr. Zoheir Tibi, the Hadash secretary in the city, said. A number of Druze youngsters set up tents outside the villages of Yarka and Julis in the Western Galilee. “We’re trying to draw everyone to the tents to join the protest,” said Wajdi Khatar, one of the protest initiators. Jewish and Arab activists are organizing a large demonstration in the Upper Galilee’s Kabri junction tomorrow.