But so far his case has not given the movement a new start; it has only added to the anger and gloom. The ad hoc group of young leaders who were the faces of the movement has splintered off in different directions. And the authorities made it clear there would be no repeat of last year’s scene of a huge tent encampment that sprang up along the grassy median of Rothschild Boulevard, one of Tel Aviv’s most elegant avenues.

What started then as a Facebook-driven protest over housing prices grew into a largely middle-class revolt against the rising cost of living.

When Daphni Leef, the initiator of the protest, and fellow activists returned with their tents in a symbolic act three weeks ago, police officers aggressively broke up the demonstration and forcefully arrested Ms. Leef and a dozen others. The next night, demonstrators came out to protest police violence and the arrests. There was another aggressive police response, some bank windows were smashed by protesters, and 89 more people were arrested.

The news media in Israel have largely turned against the activists. Rather than rallying the public to join the protests, as they did last year, recent articles have focused on the amount and sources of their financing.

Interviewed in a Tel Aviv cafe days before Mr. Silman’s self-immolation, Ms. Shaffir, 27, a leader of the protest movement, said some editors warned the activists in the winter that the news coverage would no longer be sympathetic because the support they gave the protests last summer had scared off advertisers.

Over the year, the government has responded to the protests by appointing a committee on socioeconomic change led by Manuel Trajtenberg, a respected professor of economics, and backing some of its recommendations. They include the rapid construction of apartments over the next few years, the availability of more apartments for rent, free education for children starting at age 3, instead of 5, and the construction of more day care centers.

But Ms. Shaffir and others say they are looking for more fundamental change, what amounts to a new kind of politics.