The Arab Spring Turns Into an Israeli Fall

posted by Jeffrey Hollender on CSRwire
Author: Editorial | 05/12/2011

As we entered Tel Aviv from Jerusalem late on October 3rd, the last of the tents had disappeared. The dismantling of the flagship encampment of the social protest movement on Rothschild Boulevard, part of a national movement that brought more than 400,000 people into the streets to protest social inequity, represents only a pause in an inevitable process that will forever change Israeli society.
Israel mirrors the social inequity that plagues the US today.

Consider this:

Inequality in Israel, as it is in America, is worse than Egypt, Tunisia or Yemen;
In Israel, unemployment sits at 18.9 percent, about 25 percent higher than the average in developed nations. For Arab-Israeli males, the unemployment rate is 27 percent and for ultra-Orthodox Israelis, the unemployment rate is a staggering 65.1 percent;
At the end of 2008, 32.3 percent of families in Israel lived below the poverty line, before tax and welfare adjustments;
The average compensation for senior Israeli executives employed by the “Tel Aviv 25,” the top 25 public companies, is 500 times the compensation received by the average worker; and
From 2005-2007, Israel produced more millionaires per capita than any other country. In fact, the net worth of Israel’s 500 most richest people exceeds one-third of its total GDP.

To read the full article click here