Histadrut chair threatens to join housing protests

Eini: Netanyahu gov't must return hope to nation; tent protest served eviction notice in s. Tel Aviv.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Eini Minimum Wage 311 (photo credit: Ofer Amram)
Eini Minimum Wage 311
(photo credit: Ofer Amram)
Histadrut chairman Ofer Eini pledged support Wednesday for demonstrators protesting across the country for affordable housing, saying the Histadrut would join protests "at all levels" if the government did not invite the labor organization to discuss real solutions to the issues facing the middle and lower classes, Israel Radio reported.
Eini demanded that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's government "return hope to the nation," which is filled with couples and families who struggle to "finish the month," even on salaries of NIS 14-15,000.
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The Histadrut called on Netanyahu to "enlist [the Histadrut] and all relevant parties to formulate a solution" for the housing crisis facing Israel.
Meanwhile, tent protests continued to spread throughout the country, some faring better than others.
Municipal clerks served eviction notices to tent protesters in Tel Aviv's Levinsky park early Wednesday morning. The evictions were ordered by Tel Aviv's mayor on the grounds that the tents were constructed in the park illegally and did not have permits to remain there.
Housing protests continued on Wednesday across the country.
Protesters in red shirts dragged garbage cans down Derech Menachem Begin in Tel Aviv.
In Beersheba, Mayor Rubik Danilovich talked briefly with tent protesters prior to their eviction from outside City Hall. According to police, the encampment was set up by protesters without the proper coordination. Activists reportedly folded up their tents and cleared the premises.
Near Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood, Rehov Haetzel was blocked by demonstrators who said they would resist attempts to remove them.
In Haifa's Gan Haem, where some 700 were demonstrating, protesters blocked a junction nearby. Police unblocked the road and arrested seven people. Six of those arrested were released by Wednesday morning after being interrogated by police.
The demonstrators were released on condition that they stay away from the site of the protest for two weeks, police said.
Also Wednesday morning, former adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, Dr. Yaron Zalicha said that Netanyahu's plan would not bring down housing prices.
"Young couples will not get anything. The argument that there would be changes is groundless," said Zalicha, who was also a former accountant-general of the Finance Ministry. Dr. Zalicha continued, "Netanyahu's plan is a plan of headlines. Besides the statements there is nothing."