Israeli man sets himself on fire during Tel Aviv social protest, July 14, 2012. Photo by AFP

Letter left by the man who set himself on fire during a social justice protest in Tel Aviv, July 14, 2012.

An Israeli man set himself on fire Saturday during a Tel Aviv demonstration marking the anniversary of last summer’s social protests.

As thousands marched down Kaplan street in Tel Aviv to mark one year since the start of social protests, one of the protesters, a 56-year-old man, poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire. The man was evacuated to the hospital shortly afterward.

In a letter he left at the scene, he wrote that, “The state of Israel stole from me and robbed me. It left me helpless.”

“Two Housing and Construction Ministry committees rejected me, even though I had a stroke,” he wrote in the letter said, saying that the facts could be checked with a public housing company in Haifa.

In the letter, he said that he blames “the state of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, for the humiliation that the weakened citizens go through every day, taking from the poor and giving to the rich.”

Yonatan Sahar, a protester who witnessed the incident, said that he was standing next to the man, when suddenly he set himself on fire. “I saw him holding something burning,” he said. When suddenly he poured gasoline on himself and immediately caught fire. “I didn’t know what to do,” he added.

According to medical officials, the man is currently in serious condition.

Earlier on Saturday, thousands of Israelis gathered in several cities throughout the country to mark one year since the start of the social protests.

Thousands protested in Tel Aviv, while hundreds took to the streets in Haifa, Be’er Sheva, Jerusalem, and Afula.

Daphni Leef, the woman who launched the social protest, told Haaretz on Saturday that one year later, the activists’ message hasn’t changed.

“We want a fair society,” she said. “Today we are also celebrating. Suddenly, when people take to the streets they understand that they have power and that they are right.”

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/israeli-man-sets-himself-on-fi...