Yediot Aharonot asserts that „The campaign of fear initiated yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer is intended to transmit, to the hundreds of thousands of protestors who in recent Saturday evenings have turned the streets into their home away from home, one clear message: Don’t build too much hope on the Trajtenberg Committee.” The author argues that „Raising the national dept would indeed increase the dept-product ratio, but after six year of almost continuous reduction, outside of the 2009 crisis year, we have room to work with. After all, a dept-product ratio that is permissible for countries like England, Germany, the US and France – is permissible for us.”
Ma’ariv maintains that „What will happen on the 20th of September is more-or-less what is happening today. Gasoline will flow through the pumps; electricity through the cables, milk will be in containers as will be cottage cheese…” In short, the author contends that „The day on which the Palestinians intend to declare statehood is not supposed to change our lives. Because reality is not only what is determined by the media’s agenda.”
Yisrael Hayom opines that „The tent protest should continue because it is cheerful, creative and fresh. If the protest has already been halted, we will not see any real, substantial change.”
The Jerusalem Post discusses elements of the social struggle, and states that what is needed is a solution to widespread problems that are “rooted in the overall weakness of the earning potential of average Israelis as compared to their Western counterparts.” The editor believes that one of the main tasks of the Trajtenberg committee should be to examine “why almost every single commodity in Israel, from tuna fish to automobiles, is more expensive than in almost every one of our OECD sister countries,” and is hopeful it will provide clear solutions as to how the economy can be efficient in this respect. The editor adds: “Israel must not be left with an internal social struggle at the very time when the country needs to be united in the face of an international campaign for Palestinian statehood that could wreak further havoc on the economy.”
Haaretz comments on the social protest, which put housing problems at the top of the public agenda, and derides politicians trying to hitchhike on it in an attempt to make easy and dangerous profits on the back of the middle class. The editor particularly points out the announcement last week by Interior Minister Eli Yishai of “a series of construction projects beyond the 1967 lines.” The editor opines that no one will seriously believe Yishai’s claim that “the approval of the new construction is meant to ease Israel’s housing problems,” and declares that “The protests of the United States and European Union are reminders that construction for Jews in East Jerusalem, especially in its neighborhoods bordering the West Bank, is not an ‘internal matter’ of construction and housing.”
