MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) accused the neo-liberal government of deliberately underfunding public housing in a Knesset special session Tuesday. “Too many people in Israeli society are finding themselves in an extreme crisis regarding housing,” he said. “When there are so many cases, it becomes clear – this is not a mistake, but rather, a policy.”

MK Khenin mentioned Moshe Silman, a man who set himself on fire during a protest in Tel Aviv, due to his fear of being homeless after being left without government help. “We are horrified that a man in Israel found himself in a situation where all the doors were shut to him,” Khenin said. “The housing crisis in Israel has faces and names, of women, children, people who work and who do not work.”

Protesters march on Tel Aviv’s Ayalon highway on Sunday July 15, 2012, the day after Moshe Silman set himself on fire after a social justice demonstration (Photo: Activestills)

A demonstration broke out Tuesday afternoon at the Knesset conference on public housing after several dozen social justice activists and public housing candidates discovered that Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Atias (Shas) did not plan to attend the event. The activists, claiming that Atias had run away, left the room, shouting “The people demand public housing.” A spontaneous demonstration outside the Knesset was broken up by security personnel.

Another group of social activists has erected Monday night a compound which they are calling “the first social settlement” in the Yakum area near the Coastal Highway. According to the activists’ Facebook page, “At this very moment, the first social settlement in Israel is under construction. They don’t want to build? They don’t need to, we’ll build it ourselves.”  They added that a “tower of justice” was erected with the purpose of “creating a reality and fix it firmly on site and in peoples’ consciousness.” Signs were put up in the “outpost” with slogans reading: “Housing for sane prices” housing for students and more.