As Grad and Qassam rockets pounded Southern Israel an estimated 20,000 Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square calling for social justice. It was the first major protest in the country in the past two months, signaling what organizers described as a return to the streets. It was a fraction of the size of the mass protests seen over summer but still managed to bring thousands into the streets. The escalating violence in the South forced a planned protest in Beersheba to be canceled. Organizers called out for the need for a welfare state and called on the government to do away with the current national budget and instead create a social budget that would allow more spending on social issues.