"I think that the Government – in contrast to previous governments – has acted to bring about major change, the first signs of which we are already seeing in all kinds of economic indicators, but it is clear that our goal is that a young couple and young people in Israel will be able to enter apartments, travel on fast trains or a highway and reach the city centers. This is possible; this will also happen". (Netanyahu in Cabinet Meeting July 23, 2011)
(Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA). Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has the very good fortune to be facing the housing market challenge years rather than months before the next elections. Mr. Netanyahu can use the protests to push through the various measure needed to make housing affordable while at the same time reducing travel time between the periphery and centers of employment to make living in the periphery more attractive.
While the motivation of some of those behind the protests is hardly ultimately facilitating a Likud victory at the polls, it could very well turn out that thanks to the improvements that follow in the wake of the protests that the Likud ends up being the major political beneficiary of the protests.
