Israeli citizens grow concerned over price tag on war with Iran

Lia Tarachansky of The Real News reports that many Israelis are growing concerned over the potential costs of a war with Iran -- not in terms of lives or national prestige, but as measured in their taxes and in the prices they pay for basic goods.

Food prices have already begun to spike, with a rise of 6.7% this week in the cost of bread and 20% in the cost of fresh vegetables. Stories in the Israeli press predict that a war would cause the prices of oil and electricity, which have already started rising, to surge dramatically.

Israelis have begun to engage in anti-war protests outside the home of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, but despite the protests, preparations for war appear to be well underway.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently gave himself increased powers to control parliamentary decisions and procedures, and time and money is going into providing protection for civilians against potential Iranian rocket attacks in retaliation for an Israeli assault.

Yarom Ariav, who was the Finance Ministry director general from 2007 to 2009, points out that the Lebanon War of 2006 cost billions, and that a war with Iran would be much more expensive and have incalculable long-term effects.

"Economists called the decade after the Yom Kippur War 'the lost decade'" Ariav notes. "There was a decline in the standard of living. Enormous amounts were diverted into restoring the military establishment, at the expense of civilian budgets."

"Someone will have to pay for it and that someone is the public," he concludes.

This video was uploaded to YouTube by TheRealNews on August 18, 2012.