Israeli "Social Justice" Protests Iconic Images

The Israeli “social justice” movement had two phases: the first one was initiation and establishment of the Social Protest - July 2011 – October 2011 -  a democratic phase while mainstream media gave supportive coverage to the demonstrations and other activities; and the second phase -  May 2012 – while Israeli police oppressed the protests, most of mainstream media disregarded it.  

       On the first phase, June 2011, Daphni Leef (b. 1986), was hunting for apartment to rent in Tel Aviv, she discovered that prices were beyond her financial ability, so on 11 July 2011, Leef opened a Facebook "event", calling her friends to join her in tents protest on Rothschild Boulevard in central Tel-Aviv. Starting symbolically on 14^th July, many tents were erected, and soon after, thousands of young people from Tel-Aviv and elsewhere joined her, and tents camps began appearing all over Israel. Protest movement was called the "14^th July", "Housing Protest", "Middle Class Protest", "Cost-of-Living Protest", "Social Justice Protest" and more. The overall encampments and especially the headquarters and main camp in Tel Aviv were evacuated brutally by the municipal inspectors on October 2011.

The second phase - May 2012  - the Social Protest raised its head Again - while severe police control and surveillance of activists: intimidation, violence and arrests of activists took place, the court supported the activists, and the activists video streaming restrained the police. The mainstream media ignored this phase of the protests except the elite daily newspapers Ha’aretz and its economic newspaper supplement The Marker. On the web was video streaming of the protestors site, documenting the police violence: dragging Leef aggressively to the police wagon for her detention.

The presentation offers analysis of the Israeli "Social Justice" Protests two phases by theoretical and empirical models of Image Events and Visual Iconology.