I'm born in Europe, and I could have earned 50% more than I do in Israel if I'd have stayed (and I don't make that much, but I manage). But the thing is, life isn't all about money. It's about living where you're welcome and with your culture. I wouldn't return to Europe even if I'd earn 10x more there.

You got a point there, although I got the impression the majority of the demonstrators are young (I might be wrong though). And we're seeing similiar patterns of youth unemployment and lack of housing all over the west, so I don't see how the demonstrators think Israel would be any different in this regard. Regarding kibbutz/volunteering, I did volunteering on an independant organic farm. There are lots of them all over Israel, taking in volunteers all year round. Normally you just need to call a week in advance . The accommodation is usually very simple, but you're well fed and 5-8 hours work/day on average. Although it's not a long term option really, but you could easily do half a year to a year. I guess I should be handing out leaflets to the demonstrators guiding them how to proceed with that ;)

Companies decide what they are going to pay their employees not government. Also remember you demand they pay to much then they lay people off. The property market sets its own levels not the government. If the market drives up property prices then it will be harder for ordinary people to buy and because they are having to pay more for the property investers will charge higher rents. It might be possible for government to introduce reforms to make mortgages easier to get but governments don't pay the mortgage once you got it. Making it easier to get a mortgage isn't going to drive down property prices so how much difference will it make? Tel Aviv is the most expensive city in the Middle East for property in and the seveteenth most expensive in the world. No matter how hard you try Tel Aviv is never going to be a city where the bulk of the ordinary people own their home and so they will have to rent & the owners will set the rent level. I doesn't matter if the country is being run by Bibi or the communist party there is no magic wand which is what the prostors are looking for. The real world is not the same as the ideal world.

If someone feels bad why don't they just buy some comfort food like cottage cheese and indulge? I know if I'm ever feeling down I call for some special chocolates to be flown in from Switzerland, so I don't understand what is the problem?

of both national and local levels that have sunk many of us into a sea of debt. They add civil servants and they pay them well for very little work. There should be protests by the citizens of Israel to demand that the civil service be cut in half. Or better yet contract out various services to the lowest bidding contractor. We cannot be expected to pay for free loaders, while we go into debt more each month.

Some of the TalkbacksSome are foully cruel the real hurt is the unjust profiteering of the moguls in Israel.A hard working medico in Israel earns lowly compared to a diamond trader and shonky developer that's sick.

have the worst, non-Jewish answer to a world-wide problem. Move to a cheaper part of the country and use your ideals to help our country not just bring attention to yourselves. What good did it do for the guy who set himself on fire?

Kol Hakavod to you guys. Instead of whining, threatening and demanding that someone else gives you their stuff because you are too lazy to work, you both took control of your lives and succeeded.

The problem is to many people just don't understand the real issues, they know what THEY WANT based on their individual situation and expect government to give it to them. This is largely the fault of the social justice crowd who have let people think that if they wnt something they are entitled to it. Agreed there are some reforms in the civl service and the retirement packages for former generals etc ( partly a throwback to the era of socialism ) that should be addressed but your not going to make Tel Aviv an affordable place for the average individual or governments or never needing to raise taxes because they are a nesecarry evil if the government i going to run the country. This lot are the wackiest of them all so far. Life was not supposed to be about war, mortgage and pension so basically they don't like wars, they don't like having to pay their mortages and want more money for pensions Sounds to me this lot believe life is supposed to be about relaxing at the beach 24/7. There are things government can do but in general these people want a world that we can never have.

That would be because most people (peasants) work for slave wages in Vietnam, and you are taking advantage of them.

Because they servery limit the amount of building that is permitted. Imagine if building in Shomron and Samaria were never frozen/limited over the past ten or twenty years, there would be housing for another 1/4 million people and that alone would cause house prices to be drastically lower - supply & demand. Almost all these social protestors are Tel-Avivi-Smolanim, and yet they are the ones in general who encourage the government to limit building in these areas, so they bring it upon themselves.

I ultimately had to move here to get back on my feet after my long-term position in Beer-Sheva dried up and my husband died shortly thereafter. However, it wasn't the country's fault, just life. Shit happens. Better to grapple with it than threaten suicide and whine for alms. These protestors are contemptible.

While I agree that the cost of living here in TLV is quite high (compared to NYC even...) I cannot agree that these 'social protesters' are going about gaining sympathy for their cause in a correct way... First, not everyone needs to do the '9-5' job and pay for (outrageous) mortgages in TLV. Just like NYC, living in the heart of the City, in a trendy neighborhood, with all of what that life-style offers (cafe and bar scene, trendy clothes, car, etc.) costs money. If you don't have it, you are living outside of the City and that's that. Don't go rush for a new iPhone, flat screen TV and expect holidays abroad if you can't pay for it. And if you don't want to 'keep up with the Jonses' - why not work an alternative job outside of the City with opportunities to get back in touch with nature. That's your perogative, I don't have to hear you whine about it. Do something positive like organize a job fair or get a collective to purchase goods cheaper if that's what you really want. Only positive begets positive. And grow up.

Oblivious attention seeking , as said they are activists, this is a PR ploy, well thought out and delivered with no real intention to commit suicide. Sick, and harmful to those who really are in such a depressive state.

healthy.

People are very frustrated in our so called Democracy. How long will we be able to call ourselves the only democracy in the mid east?

People should have a limited number of talkbacks per day or week. That would force people to decide what to sent and limit the domination of certain crackpots

So what about all other western countries with youth unemployment and expensive housing, are they no longer democracies? You have some f*cked up logics...

You remember the one: "This plane is going to Cuba!"

One, there are plenty of gentiles in t he world who live in poor conditions. Greece is a perfect example. Two, your comparison of Australia - a country with 3 times the population of Israel, and 6 times the GDP as Israel, with a wealth of natural resources - is nothing short of retarded. Australia is also not surrounded by countries focused on her demise nor in a state of war. Guess what - Jews in Australia have a nice life too, and Arabs in Israel feel the same economic pinch as Jews.

barely making rent, hardly any furniture in the house, on my own, and a product of the Internet bubble which hit the Israeli economy very hard. I was harassed by the bank, too. I didn't leave the country, I didn't need anti-depressant pills, and I didn't give up. I worked hard, I succeeded, and I help others do the same today. The bottom line - there's a famous saying by Thomas Edison that goes "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Kudos to you on finally getting yourself to a self-sustaining level. However, if you intend to stop there and just live out your life in Vietnam because Israel is "so hard", the I consider you a failure overall. Get used to it - most of the world is like Israel, not Vietnam.

Democracy is a form of governance where everyone who claims to be a "victim" gets everything they want, from someone else whom they can't name but they know they are dangerous and selfish. Democracy allows for the open protests, on any subject, even if it means violating the rights and sensibilities of most of the other people in that Democracy. And under the Leftist view of Democracy, free speech is assured except for those who they dislike or disagree with. In that case, its is a form of social justice to cancel the free speech of those people because they aren't "progressive" enough and hurt society. It really sounds a lot like the Communist manifesto of the early 20th century.

which then is followed up on a post about limiting speech of posters here.

Israelis have never really learned the concept of commuting, if they want something it should be right on their doorstep. Its not fair that they should have to live outside central Tel Aviv and then have to travel to work everything should be cheap in Central Tel Aviv so they can just hop on the bike and cycle to work. The social justice crowd don't understand the Tel Aviv has changed and its more expensive place to live, called evolution. Cities evolve over time sometimes for the better sometimes for the worse but you can't stop eveolution by jumping off bridges. The problem also extends far beyond Tel Aviv to Israels ghetto culture. The vast majority of Jews are in the centre of along the coast so it means higher property price. The north is virtually undeveloped at all and the only people encouraging people to move to the Galilee & Golan are Nefesh B Nefesh who offer incentives to olim moving there. The government is spending money on trying to develop the Negev but at the same time they are not going all out to encouraging people to move there. The Jews of the Yeshe some of them build settlements just for the sake of building not to provide homes. If we had people with pioneering spirit like that with the incentive to develop the north & south this would be a different country. To solve the property price problem long term everybody politicans, individuls & businesses need to work together instead of leftists looking for a revolution.

JUMP!