BICOM

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak yesterday praised Israel’s social protest movement and called for a change of economic priorities, but at the same time cautioned against cuts to the defence budget. Barak said that the protests taking place around Israel are important and a moving phenomena and called for a changing of the priorities to bolster the middle class and weaker sections of society. He added that the Defence Ministry was willing to contribute to the efforts by closing bases in order to free up land and giving improved benefits to newly released soldiers. However, he warned against cutting the Defence Ministry’s budget, saying, “We must remember we are not Sweden and we are not Finland…The whole Middle East is tottering. No one knows what will happen.”

The demonstrations continued unabated yesterday. Three hundred protestors gathered at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem over a rise in electricity prices. The panel of experts appointed by Prime Minister Netanyahu to address protestors concerns met for the first time yesterday. Meanwhile, protest leaders set about establishing their own rival panel of experts, led by experts in the fields of economics, society, housing, education, transport and the environment. In a separate development, Israeli doctors decided to resume their long running strike action yesterday. It appeared that a breakthrough had been achieved last week in their negotiations over pay and conditions, but disagreements have reemerged this week.