(Update - the video is now fully subtitled.) Today is October 15 - the day slated by dozens of local social justice and democracy movements to try and hold a worldwide, truly global demonstration. Protests are taking place in an astonishing 951 cities in 85 countries, including, obviously, New York, Tel Aviv, Cairo, London. But the most heart-warming images so far today come from the small, crisis-stricken town of Kiryat Shmona. Kiryat Shmona, Israel's northernmost city, is effectively a frontier town, usually in the news either as a habitual target for Hezbollah rockets or for its rather dismal socio-economic state;…

By Hagai El-Ad Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, tries hard to separate the Israeli social justice protests from the Arab Spring. He ends up sounding both out of date and out of touch. Israelis and Palestinians are again gradually engulfed in escalating violence. While hoping that the situation will not further escalate, Israel's social justice protests are faced with the challenge of not evaporating in the face of security challenges. Business is not as usual – and no one is pretending that it is. And yet, nor were the social justice protests an expression of "business as usual". So,…

We are delighted to introduce our very first podcast - this time, dealing with the wider social and political implications of the tent protests. In the studio are +972 bloggers Dahlia Scheindlin, Dimi Reider, Aziz Abu Sarah and Joseph Dana, each bringing their own take and perspective on the July 14th movement. The host today is Noam Sheizaf, and Dimi also doubled as producer for this podcast. We invite you all  to leave your comments below and join the debate. You can also download the podcast here and listen to it on-the-go.

Some 100,000 people, Arabs and Jews, demonstrated across Israel tonight, after the J14 movement decided to break with tradition and hold rallies in a dozen different locations instead of one central rally in Tel Aviv. The decision resulted in several protests breaking local records, with over 15,000 demonstrating in Beer Sheva, over 30,000 in Haifa, over 15,000 in Afula (population 40,000). Other locations included the Arab city of Nazareth, the blue-collar town of Or Yehouda, the commuter city of Modi'in, Beit Shemesh, Netanya, Rishon Letzion and many others. While the protest in Jaffa, which has seen many clashes between  police…

Palestinian Israeli author Odeh Bisharat addressed the 300,000-strong rally for social justice in Tel Aviv on Saturday. This is the full text of his speech. One summery day‪,‬ a revolution began in Israe‪l. The revolution of the young. ‬ In July. The sweet, contagious innocence defeats all the sophistication. One morning, a young man or a young woman got up. A young man or a young woman who took no account of the complexities of politics. Who didn't care what the coalition would say, or what the opposition would say Who were unmoved by opinion polls, Who weren't captivated by…

The social justice demonstrations have been accused of ignoring the key issue of the occupation. But their tremendous groundswell of solidarity and cooperation is  slowly gnawing at something even more significant than that - the principle of separation, of which the occupation is just one exercise. One of the most impressive aspects of the J14 movement is how quickly it is snowballing, drawing more and more groups and communities into a torrent of discontent. Pouring out into the streets  is everything that Israelis, of all national identities, creeds and most classes complained about for years: The climbing rents, the rising…

Social justice protesters  blocked major road tonight across the country, as new protest camps were set up and evicted ones were rebuilt. Earlier today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented a housing plan consisting mainly of speeding up privatisation, jarring badly with the protesters' demand for "welfare state now" In the special press conference at his office in Jerusalem this morning, Netanyahu attempted to empathise with the protest, claiming he identified the looming housing crisis already several years ago and promised. Flanked by housing minister Ariel Atias and finance minister Yuval Steinitz, whom Netanyahu reportedly attempted to oust just a few…