Israelis urged to enjoy cheaper life in Berlin

TEL AVIV — A group of Israelis living in Berlin has shocked compatriots back home by urging them to move to Germany as a much cheaper alternative to living in Israel.

"It is time to immigrate to Berlin," says the group's Hebrew-language Facebook page entitled "Let's Immigrate to Berlin" which offers practical tips for those seeking an alternative to the high cost of living in Israel. 

But the page has triggered anger in Israel, where leaving is regarded by many as a form of desertion.

And to abandon the biblical land of milk and honey for cheaper dairy products in the birthplace of the Nazi Holocaust has touched a particularly raw nerve.

High rents and food costs, particularly that of cottage cheese, an Israeli staple, were among the triggers of a popular protest movement that peaked in 2011 with record numbers of Israelis from all walks of life taking to the streets and squatting in urban tent camps.

"The page is organised by a group of Israelis who understand how you feel, who have also suffered from the extreme cost of accommodation and food in Israel," the group's page says. 

"We help you to fit in and acclimatise in the new city, a place where there are no worries about making ends meet. Where there is no need to choose between buying cottage cheese at the supermarket or sending your daughter to enrichment activities," it adds.

The site shows what it says is a typical grocery receipt, showing items such as orange juice, milk, dairy desserts, pasta and cheese at prices far lower than the cheapest Israeli discount chain. 

The existence of the site made the front page of Israeli tabloid Maariv on Monday, provoking the rage of political columnist Ben Caspit.

"Let's get into the incomprehensible fact that 75 years after Berlin shook under Nazi boots and... Hitler's SS, it's as if nothing happened," he wrote. "Israelis are flocking back to Berlin. It's hard for them here, in the only Jewish country... They're comfortable in Berlin. Out of all the places in the world, in Berlin."

The phenomenon is not a new one.

Just a year ago, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, who swept into government on the coattails of the 2011 protests, decried "all the people who are fed up and leaving for Europe".

"I have little patience for people who are willing to throw into the garbage the only country the Jews have, because it's more comfortable in Berlin," he posted on Facebook.

Separately, Israel plans to fully or partly privatise a number of state-owned companies in a move aimed at boosting efficiency, reducing the national debt and fighting corruption.

The decision, approved by the ministerial socio-economic Cabinet, was expected to add 15 billion shekels ($4.07 billion, 3.26 billion euros) to state coffers over the next three years, the finance ministry indicated this week.

Minority stocks will be issued for firms "in which the state has an interest in retaining long-term governmental control" such as Israel's electricity corporation, aviation, trains, water, mail and natural gas industries, a ministry statement read.

It will also sell companies in which it has "no long-term interest", such as the ports at Ashdod and Haifa, a modified and declassified military industry [with the state retaining the right to determine the ownership], the Dead Sea Works and others.

Workers at Haifa port walked off the job in protest at the plans but were ordered by a court to return to work on Monday evening, media reported.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement the "reform" will "increase the state's income and enable greater transparency in government companies".

Lapid called the move "an additional measure to end the politicisation of companies and reduce corruption in them".

Netanyahu had previously overseen a series of privatisations when he was himself finance minister some 10 years ago.

But the companies sold off then were "easy" compared to what was currently on the privatisation list, one economics expert remarked.

"I can't see these things going ahead," said Michael Beenstock of the Hebrew University's economics department, noting that powerful unions at Ashdod port and in the electricity company have prevented any reform or change for decades.

While Lapid and Netanyahu may be successful in privatising some smaller estate enterprises, the electricity corporation and Ashdod port are "not going to take this lying down". 

"To break these things you have to put the country into misery for a long time," Beenstock added, and Netanyahu and Lapid are "not going to do it".