The new Israeli refrain: 'The rent is too damn high!'

"... But income inequality is high and growing in Israel, and even politically jaded young Israelis have grown frustrated with rising housing prices and costs for common consumer goods. Indeed, the high price of cottage cheese in Israel ignited an earlier round of protests and consumer boycotts this summer.
"The gap between rich and poor in Israel is among the greatest of those countries, as is the number of people living below the poverty line," Bronner writes, noting certain groups, particularly Israeli Arabs and ultra-Orthodox Jews, are still economically struggling. And, he adds, "nearly everyone has been affected by rising rents stemming from a drop in construction, followed by a rush on available housing when mortgage rates dropped."..."