An increasingly large number of voices in the Israeli press are saying that the tent protest against the government's social-economic policies is dying.
Liberal television show anchors like Yonit Levy and Oshrat Kotler, who were obviously elated by the protests throughout the summer, were visibly despondent.
Relatively conservative writers, by liberal Israeli standards, like Ben-Dror Yemini and writers of "The Daily Capitalist" in Maariv repeatedly tore into the protests and noted that even if they did start out spontaneously, they were quickly hijacked by radical leftist elements. Anti-protest voices like Kobi Arieli's, which were a small minority at first, now appear to be in the majority.
Channel 10, considered by some an even greater bastion of leftism than Channel 2, interviewed Daphni Leef, the most prominent leader of the "revolution," and asked her some tough questions that had not been asked in the previous weeks' coddling interviews.
Leef admitted she had not slept in the tents in recent days. She said that she had received exemption from military service because of epilepsy, and that she has volunteered extensively in other programs. She then walked out of the interview as the cameras were rolling.
The committee is dealing with suggestions for alleviating social welfare issues that affect those below the poverty line in Israel as well as that portion of the middle class that feels the crunch of taxes and high food and housing prices. It is enjoined to be careful not to endanger Israels excellent world economic position with suggestions that signigicantly increase the national debt.
Popular news site Ynet, which had functioned as a PR spin machine for the protest all summer long, keeping it in its top headlines for most of July and August, has featured very few articles on it in the past week.