JERUSALEM -- A day after protest rallies swept across Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was scrambling to respond to what has been described as one of the largest no-confidence votes against a government in the Zionist regime’s history.

In what appears to be a record-breaking turnout, a conservatively-estimated 300,000 Israelis from all walks of life packed city centers across the country Saturday night, calling for “social justice,” a blanket term covering demands for reforms in housing, taxes, healthcare, childcare, and education, Xinhua reported.
Israeli protesters paid homage to the uprisings taking place across the Arab world, waving banners reading “This is Egypt” and making reference to Cairo's Tahrir Square, where Egyptian protesters gathered during their uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak.
Netanyahu on Sunday morning announced the partial makeup of the social-economic committee tasked with responding to the protesters' demands, only three weeks after a Facebook protest page over the high cost of housing in the center of the country exploded into tent camps from the northern Galilee down to the Red Sea port of Eilat.
Netanyahu, in remarks at the weekly Sunday morning cabinet session, enumerated “a change in priorities, aimed at easing the economic burden on the citizens of Israel,” including “a change in tax payments; third, expanded access to social services; fourth, increasing competition and efficiency in the marketing of goods and services, aimed at lowering prices. Fifth, steps to implement the housing program that we have already set forth.”
The protesters were chanting: “The people demand social justice”.
Some held signs reading, “People before profits”, “Rent is not a luxury” and “Israel is too dear”.
The protests seemed to far eclipse any previous demonstrations over social issues.
In Jerusalem, 20,000 protesters marched toward the residence of Netanyahu.
Sizeable demonstrations occurred throughout the country, including 5,000 people in Modi'in, 3,000 in Kiryat Shmona, 1,000 in Hod Hasharon, 1,000 in Eilat, more than 500 in Ashkelon and 200 in Dimona.
Israeli media showed streets packed with people on Saturday night. A similar protest last weekend drew an estimated crowd of 150,000 nationwide.
Many observers viewed Saturday night's protest as a test to see if the movement was gaining momentum or fizzling out.
Demonstrations began in mid-July with a few tents set up in an expensive part of central Tel Aviv to protest real estate prices.
They quickly spread and tent encampments have sprouted up in other city centers, proving a serious challenge to Netanyahu's coalition government.
The movement further expanded as many groups later joined in over a wide range of economic issues.
“This started out as a housing crisis when a young woman was evicted from her flat when she couldn't afford her rent,” Ron Kampeas, Washington bureau chief at the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, told Al Jazeera. “But it's ballooned and encompasses much more than that now.”
“There was planned privatization of what was once a socialist economy, and there weren't adequate plans to bring along the middle classes and lower-middle classes, as a new wealthy class arose in Israel.”
Young parents are protesting high child-rearing bills, doctors are striking due to strenuous work conditions, teachers are marching over restrictive work contracts and others are in the streets over low salaries, ever-increasing gas prices and food costs.
The popular movement has snowballed into the biggest internal threat yet for the right-leaning government. Polls released last week show Netanyahu's approval ratings have dropped, while support for the protesters is very high.
Photo: Israeli protesters shout slogans as they take part in a demonstration calling for social justice in Israel, in Jerusalem on August 6, 2011. (Reuters photo)