A new public agenda for Israel

Housing is not the only basic necessity that is significantly more expensive in Israel compared to other western countries.

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Tent City Dismantled 311 (photo credit: ben Hartman)
Tent City Dismantled 311
(photo credit: ben Hartman)
Gradually across the nation, tent cities are being dismantled. The process of bringing them down began Sunday, just a day after demonstrations brought to the streets more than 400,000 protesters, apparently breaking the record set in September 1982 by the 400,000-strong demonstration against the Lebanon War.
In some cases, such as with the National Union of Israeli Students’ tent on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv, an express decision was made that the impact of the tent cities’ symbolism has been spent and it is now time to enter into a new phase in the ongoing grassroots social protest movement.
Others knew instinctively that it was time to move on. Just as the tent cities went up spontaneously they are now for the most part coming down spontaneously, though the dismantling is also tied to the end of summer vacation and the beginning of a new school year.
A minority of tent dwellers, some of whom have no place else to go, might end up facing evacuation orders. But for the most part, the “tent city stage” show is now officially over.
Much has changed since the waves of protest – not over settlements, not over diplomatic issues, not over a war – first began seven weeks ago. A new discourse has developed in our society that goes beyond the usual issues of contention and strives to create a more just, fair and decent society in which the gap between the poor and rich is not so extreme and where honest, hard work leads to a comfortable standard of living.
Yet, while new energies and aspirations have been fleshed out and given expression and will undoubtedly continue to play a central role in shaping government policy, many of the endemic economic ills plaguing our society remain.
THE EXORBITANT price of housing, which provided the impetus for the creation of the tent cities, remains one of the thorniest economic problems to solve and affects every family in the nation.
“A New Public Agenda For Israel,” a recently released study by the Taub Center, shows that it is significantly more difficult for the average Israeli to earn the money needed to pay for an average house than it is for the average American or European.
In April 2011, it took 11.2 years of work at average salary to pay for an average-priced house in Israel. In 2009 in the US it took just 2.9 years of work at average salary, in Canada 3.7 years, in Britain 5.1 years and in Australia 6.8 years. This is the highest level since 1996 when the huge wave of immigration from the Former Soviet Union pushed real estate prices to record highs.
And housing is not the only basic necessity that is significantly more expensive in Israel compared to other western countries.
According to the same Taub Center report, in 2008 basic food and drink products cost on average 16 percent more in Israel than the OECD average; automobiles cost 70% more; dairy products and eggs cost 44% more. The average basket of consumption in Israel was 9% more expensive than the OECD average in 2008.
The tent cities are gradually disappearing, but the economic challenges we face remain daunting. The energies and aspirations that motivated over 400,000 Israelis to take to the streets to improve their society and make Israel a better place to live still burn in hearts and minds. The momentum must not be squandered. We deserve a more comfortable existence.
Grappling with the daily challenges faced by a Jewish state surrounded by enemies makes life in Israel hard enough.
At the very least, we should be capable of fixing the distortions in our economy so that making ends meet is not a colossal, nearly insurmountable task for the majority of Israelis.