Israeli protests on Facebook against cheese price hike gains momentum

Israeli protests against the hike in cottage cheese price is gaining momentum on Facebook as more than 1,500 people are signing up every hour calling for a boycott of the product.

More than 75,000 people have already registered their protest on the networking site by Friday vowing to boycott their staple diet until the price of the commodity falls.

The cottage cheese price has gone up by 39 per cent since 2008, according to the financial daily The Marker.

Earlier this week, an opposition lawmaker demonstratively presented Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a container of cottage cheese during a debate in parliament and quipped that the commodity had become a luxury item.

A newspaper headline called it white gold as the price of cheese was close to 8 shekels for a 250 gram container.

Meanwhile, Israeli finance minister Yuval Steinitz said he will consider importing dairy goods to increase competition.

The organizers of the protest on Facebook are Israelis who work for a living, raising families and bowing under of the weight of the cost of living in Israel.

Although the struggle largely focuses on cottage cheese, the centralized food market seems to be a bigger problem.

On average, Israeli food companies Tnuva, Strauss, Osem, the Central Bottling Company (popularly known as Coca-Cola Israel ) and Unilever have all increased the prices of commodities between 3 percent and 10 percent. These five food companies hold a 45 percent marketshare, according to Israeli company StoreNext.