Israel’s summer of protest: Avishai, Walzer, et al.

Yesterday (Aug. 15), Bernard Avishai participated with writer Etgar Keret and an extreme-right West Bank settler activist on Tom Ashbrook’s NPR “On Point” program.  I provide additional links to commentaries from Dissent magazine, which follow this from the Ashbrook program’s website:

Israelis protest prohibitive housing costs. (AP)

“Huge crowds. National uproar. Passion and politics in the streets. It’s not Egypt or Syria or Yemen or London this time, but Israel.
In the last month, hundreds of thousands of Israelis have poured into the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and beyond to protest the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of cottage cheese –- and maybe a lot more. They’ve built a tent city and railed against tycoons and inequality. Shouted they want their country back. But back to what?
This hour On Point: After the Arab Spring, we’ve got the Israeli Summer. What do Israelis want?”

Guests

Etgar Keret, well- known Israeli author who has been involved in the recent protests. He’s author of several short story collections, three graphic novels, and a children’s book. He has also written extensively for film and television. His most recent book is “The Girl on the Fridge.”
Bernard Avishai, adjunct professor of Business at Hebrew University. He’s author of “The Hebrew Republic: How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at Last.”
Nadia Matar, founder of the Israeli settlers’ group — “Women in Green” –- which supports Israeli settlement of land captured in the 1967 War, and opposes the creation of a Palestinian state.

And from Dissent: