Dueling social justice rallies planned for Saturday

Tel Aviv rallies to protest inaction on replacing Tal Law and the recent government budget cuts, tax hikes.

By BEN HARTMAN
Social justice protesters in Habima Square 370 (photo credit: Michael Omer-Man)
Social justice protesters in Habima Square 370
(photo credit: Michael Omer-Man)
In the wake of recent government budget cuts, tax hikes and the absence of a solution that would enact universal army or national service for all Israelis, social justice activists plan to hold a rally Saturday night that they say will bring the movement to a new level.
Called “The quiet majority is uniting for a protest rally,” the event is scheduled for 8 p.m. at the Tel Aviv Museum and is being organized by Itzik Shmuli, head of the National Union of Israeli Students, protest leader Stav Shaffir and leaders of the “Camp Sucker” universal service movement.
The protest will also host representatives of the organization Yesh Sikui (“there is a chance”), which boasts former Mossad head Meir Dagan and Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center President Uriel Reichmann among its founders.
On the protest’s Facebook page, organizers said the rally is being called because of the new social cuts, in particular the increased taxes which have forsaken the promises the government made to lessen the cost of living.
At the same time, a competing demonstration is planned by social justice protesters, many of whom object to the rally at the museum in particular because of the participation of Shmuli, Shaffir, and representatives of the Camp Sucker movement.
The alternative protest is set to include a march from the Habimah National Theater to the Interior Ministry offices at Kaplan Street, where protesters said they plan to camp out overnight.
Organizers said earlier this week that two previous event pages for the protest mysteriously disappeared from Facebook.