JERUSALEM (JTA) — Some 20,000 demonstrators protested across Israel calling for social and economic equality.
The protests Saturday night marked the sixth consecutive weekend that Israelis have marched in social protests.
Some 10,000 gathered in Tel Aviv, joined by Noam Shalit, father of captured soldier Gilad Shalit, who said that social justice means bringing all Israeli soldiers home.
Jews and Arabs marched together in the Wadi Ara area of northern Israel, demanding not only social justice, but also to not expand a planned development for haredi Orthodox Jews in the area.
On Thursday, Israel’s five-month doctors’ strike was resolved with an agreement between the Israei Finance Ministry and the Doctors’ Labor Federation. The agreement includes pay hikes for doctors and the hiring of additional physicians in public hospitals.
"This agreement is an additional step in a series of socio-economic steps that this government has taken in various fields in order to improve Israeli society and reduce gaps," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday’s Cabinet meeting.
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