[Confusion]

This is badly written. The first paragraph of the article suggests the civil disobedience in Israel is far from classy, but in fact that first paragraph describes London and is meant to be juxtaposed to the next paragraphs that describe the protests in Israel. Some commenters already interpreted it wrongly.

[StavrosK]

That first paragraph and next sentence make absolutely zero sense. "Things have happened, except the opposite." What the hell does that mean?