Israel’s protest movement shifts spotlight from judicial coup to social issues

JVL Introduction

A long hoped-for shift in the focus of Israel’s protest movement may be occurring.

It is limited, not raising the issue of the occupation, but nonetheless a real shift towards a concern with wider social issues which underpin current dissatisfaction within Israel.

For the first time senior figures in Israel’s Palestinian communities participated as platform speakers.

They focused on the violent crime that is rampant in their communities, fuelled by high unemployment and government negligence over a long period.

Their protest mesh into other protests – against the closing of public transport in Tel Aviv on Saturday, the march for women’s rights in the largely haredi community of Bnei Brak, the expected protest around the start of the school year and more.

It remains to see whether these issues are generalised or folded back into the narrower constitutional concerns which have predominated until now.

This article was originally published by Haaretz on Mon 28 Aug 2023. Read the original here.