Protest against Leumi gathers momentum

Public anger over the write-down of Nochi Dankner's debt to Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) has found its way onto Facebook. The tempest started with a post by Itai Adam, a leader of the "Eretz Hadasha" ('New Country") movement, which, it will be recalled, competed in the last Knesset election but failed to win a seat. In an emotional post, Adam recounted yesterday the economic collapse he underwent when he was younger because of a NIS 30,000 debt to Bank Leumi. "I shall never forget the sense of fear, the sleepless nights, the start every time the telephone rang, the trembling that overcame me every time there was a buzz on the door intercom in the afternoon, and the momentary loss of balance that took hold of me every time I opened the mailbox," he wrote on his Facebook page.

The status, which went online only yesterday, quickly went viral, with about 4,800 likes. Consequently, it was decided to conduct the popular campaign on Facebook in a more organized way, and so Eldar Yaniv, chairman of "Eretz Hadasha", opened a protest group on Facebook calling on people to turn out to demonstrate this Monday at Bank Leumi's main branch on Herzl Street in Tel Aviv. Via Facebook, about 50,000 people have been invited to the event, and about 6,700 have so far confirmed that they will turn up to it. The group also calls on surfers to close accounts at Bank Leumi if the bank goes ahead with ts write-down of Dankner's debt.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 18, 2013

Protest against Leumi gathers momentum

A demonstration is planned for Monday outside the bank's main branch in Tel Aviv.

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