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Israeli Social Justice Protests Have 'Failed Miserably'

Professor Yossi Yonah, one of the leaders of Israel's social justice protest movement, explains why it failed. 

Israeli protesters hold placards as they march on a main road during a demonstration calling for social justice in Tel Aviv July 14, 2012. Some thousands of Israelis gathered in cities throughout the country to mark one year since the start of social protests demanding for more social welfare, local media reported. REUTERS/Amir Cohen (ISRAEL - Tags: CIVIL UNREST POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTR34XYI
Israeli protesters hold placards as they march on a main road during a demonstration calling for social justice in Tel Aviv, July 14, 2012. — REUTERS/Amir Cohen

“We have failed miserably,” states philosopher-economist professor Yossi Yonah, one of the intellectual leaders of the social protest movement. “Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated on the streets, but we did not succeed in convincing them that without a comprehensive budgetary policy, no change can take place here.”

This explanation may encapsulate it all: While Finance Minister Yair Lapid, artist of the short, pithy expression, enjoys the political benefits of the protest, Yonah and his friends, with their complex messages and long lectures regarding "proper budgetary policy," have not succeeded in convincing voters.

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