If there are fewer homes than people seeking housing, you have a problem. Why not build more affordable homes to keep up with natural growth and expanding population? If not, many of your more valued citizens may seek other non Israel destinations.. What are you waiting for? UN approval? LOL. BUILD BABY BUILD ANNEX BABY ANNEX.

Which is the level of value extremism brings to Israeli society.

They can buy big houses with land for a fraction of the price of what a small apartment in Tel Aviv costs and they are complaining about lack of affordable housing. They already have their government subsidy and they still moan. I wonder since they care so much about everybody else would they be in favor of ending subsidies to the Yeshe to build more home in Tel Aviv? These people don't give a dam about housing costs, they are riding on the back of what started out a housing protest but is quickly becoming a demand to bring back socialism. Pretty soon the Yeshe will announce their own demands which they want added to the list to be presented to the government. Everybody is now trying to get something out of this for themselves and they think if they can attach their cause to the housing protest it gives it legitimacy it would not have otherwise. I am just off to the post office to mail to Bibi my demand which is for a gold plated iPhone. Its not an unreasonable demand and I think I am entitled to it.

one big reason for the high prices are the subsidies and preferences for building in the West Bank. There you have lower prices. Out of the tx payers pockets

they wear shirts saying "Tel Aviv for Jews only", "Bat Yam for Jews only" and then chant "we want social justice". For who? only Jews like them? That is not my nation and not what the protests stand for.

God Bless our Right Wing Warriors. I wish I was there, I would make sure no Left Wing Liberal tries to pull a fast one. Marzel for Prime Minister!!

The dairy farmers are protesting about the fact the government plans to lower dairy prices which would strengthen tycoon owned supermarket chains. Then on the other side you got people condemning the government because dairy products are to high. This is a no win situation for Bibi because whichever side he chooses he is the bad guy.. There really does seem to be some kind of mood for socialism, everybody wants government to take responsibility for everything and nobody likes tycoons or the free market, they all want to see an end to privatization. Pretty soon we are all going to be calling each other Comrade.

If the protest do not include the right then the organizers cause will mean nothing and be irrelevant as a group of anarchist left wing loonies whose only goal is not social justice but to overthrow a democratic government and destroy Israel. They would be also considered foreign government controlled.

The main problem is that on the one side Israel is controlled by a bureaucracy that strangling the country and on the other side by a cartel of billionaires. A good example of the latter is how the banks en mass refused to give Select Communications Ltd. controlled by Michael Gelfand and Louis Mayerberg guarantees even though Goldman Sachs guaranteed the NIS700 required in the tender. The Government quite rightly so claims low unemployment in Israel but, due to high taxation and catastrophic indirect taxation, people are battling to make ends meet and are living on credit card credit, bank overdrafts and loans. It is only a matter of time until this bubble bursts. An example of the indirect taxation is the leaving of VAT on water! Today in the Knesset Netanyahu called the demonstrations as "a wave of popularism" but he fails to see that 88% of the people support the demonstrations. The Government plans to build but the law passed today will only benefit the building contractor cartels and there are no criteria in the law which specify the type of apartments to build and where the building will take place. In a democracy, which Netanyahu was quick to mention when heckled at the AIPAC Congress, politicians ARE ELECTED TO SERVE THE PEOPLE not to serve themselves at the expense of the people!

And you wonder why costs are high. Its the same everywhere; NYC San Fran etc. Do you like clostrophobia? 60% of Israelis live in the narrow plains 15 miles north and south of tel aviv. its ABSURD. The left gets major subsidies in the form of INF post zionist pro enemy narative. lso whose defending the fontiers? mostly religious, sephardim, and small towns...while you sip capacinos in Bubble Aviv. If they werent there you wouldnt be sipping. Try moving north, bringing business and jobs THERE, also the south and NEGEV and also the best JUDEA.

I moved here from NY with no need to go back to a melting pot of immigrants. i came to Israel to live in my home. The Jewish homeland. In my home I expect to live side by side with my brothers. If you are in favor of a pluralistic environment of many nations I can recommend a number of countries but not my homeland. It is reserved for my family - thanks

kulaks were the "rich" and after there were no more rich, the rich were the middle class, and after they killed off and robbed the middle class they called the poor with a horse a kulak and robed and killed him too. then the joke was bolshevism is when there was no food in the cities and communism was when there was o food in the farms either.

and morality. unfortunately, it appears Israel like the rest of the world has forgotten or just diesn't care. Without the Moral and ethical teaching that have endured till now, every society will become "unglued". Can we all realize without respecting one another there will be nothing for anyone except hatred and despair. Can we all just grow up.

The tolerant, liberal, 'Social Justice' crowd rejecting anyone that doesn't agree with them. Let these people scream all they want, perhaps their will destroy their vocal cords so we won't have to listen to their hypocrisy for awhile.

The Left insist they are the only ones who care for social justice and reforms. Infact, that's their only platform though they reserve it for those that agree with them. The Left doesn't consider those on the Right to be deserving of basic rights as the rest of the population. The focus entirely on the perceived "victim" while they work to create the "evil boogeyman". In this case, any one who owns a company is evil. Guess what - EVERYONE in the Leftist parties have wealth and nice houses. Check out the bank accounts of Barak, Aloni Shulamit, Peretz. If these protests were truly about social justice they would welcome every able bodied person to join them, and make it apolitical. But that's the point - it's entirely political, favored by Kadima.

The high prices in Tel Aviv are not due to low-cost housing in the Shomron. How about the pricing of houses in Beersheva? They are much lower than in Tel Aviv. So, why aren't they affected by housing in the Shomron? It's a basic case of supply and demand, and the prices in Tel Aviv are high because they can be. If the demand dropped, so would the prices but the truth is most people want to live in a small swath of land near the center of the country. One of the main reasons why prices are lower in the Shomron are because not a lot of people want to move there. A recent increase in people seeking low-cost housing caused housing prices to actually rise in Judea/Samaria. Your post simply shows your ignorance in basic external factors that affect the economy - an ignorance shared will the majority of protesters - and your personal bias against settlers. The settlement movement began as a way to re-claim land that we Jews were ethnically cleansed from and as a national security issue. Both deserving of taxpayer funding. Your desire to get a cheap apartment near your friends in Tel Aviv is NOT a national security issue.

but I've seen plenty of Leftist bias among the protesters as well, including major anti-right, anti-settler, even anti-religious bias which turned me off to entire "social reform" protests.

Nonsense! Of course, they have the exact same moral riht to demonstrate as you do. Nobody is stopping you from moving to or living in Judea and/or Samaria, only you yourself in a personal decision.

The "No left, no right" and "milk the tycoons" call-outs have a certain ring in English, but in Hebrew? Not so much. One is left to suspect Ynet is taking certain liberties to encourage sympathy from Western readers.

"No Left, no Right, cheap apartments are our right " Cheers,

This clearly shows the issue that the leftist protesters are pushing. It's not really housing at all, but rather Leftism. If they really cared the slightest about housing, they would welcome all the support they can get. True NIF colors coming through.

The solution to Israel's housing problem is simple and obvious. Massive building in Judea and Samaria. We could house tens of thousands more Jews in Judea and Samaria within months. Moreover, competitive market pressures would bring home prices down throughout Israel. However, the left wants a destructive socialist "solution". Leftist "solutions" are the source of almost all Israel's problems. Without Israeli retreat and socialism, Israel would be infinitely better off in every way.

..namely the Jewish people's contentiousness and passion for starting arguments and dividing up their own people into "we and them". If the Jewish people could only stop arguing with each other, Israel could be a much better place. It's true that the Arabs are a burden to us and it's true I and many Israelis want the Arabs out of Israel. However, claiming that "life in Israel is tough" because of the conflict is not the whole truth, because Jews/Israelis themselves, such as the protestors that only deliver slogans, no solutions, only threaten Netanyahu but bring no compassion, solutions or brotherly love, are precisely the people I'm refering to. Jews /Israelis themselves represent what they hate and display the kind of behavior they claim they dislike. Israelis/Jews are stressful and make life in Israel stressful and then they say "it's crazy here". Yes, those arguing and dividing us into "we and them" and those that create panic and tension, THEY ARE REALLY THE SOURCE OF CRAZYNESS. The protests make things worse - not better. If the protestors protest "social injustice" why not also attack national injustice? Why do Arabs live in Israel, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and Gaza and why is Israel doing nothing to get rid of them and save our land? Why are the protestors not protesting against illegal immigrants and guest workers? Why do the protestors show compassion for all nations except for their own?

Jews should fill jobs that foreign workers have been brought in by govt Why not some caring for Jews and forget liberal philosophy.

If all the settlers would do the left's bidding, and leave the settlements to live in Israel proper? Would that help the housing problem or make it more accute? Since the building freeze in the settlements, prices in some settlements have doubled, making it worthwhile for many to leave the settlements for Israel proper. Has that helped the housing crisis, or aggravated it?

this well-thought tackback has my sympathy.

And for this he gets the slandering "extreme rigtist" moniker from this peace of trash rag?