During Sharon's tenure as prime minister, the number of poor Israelis grew by 45 percent

Last update - 17:34 23/01/2006
State report: More than 1 in 3 Israeli children live in poverty
By Ruth Sinai, Haaretz Correspondent

The number of poor in Israel has risen sharply since 2000, with a staggering 34.1 percent of children now living in poverty, according to a report issued Monday by the National Insurance Institute.

A total of 1.58 million people now live in poverty in Israel, half a million more than in 2000, when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took office. The number of poor children has reached 738,000, up from 714,000 last year and 482,000 in 2000.

The report shows that 24.1 percent of Israelis are currently living under the poverty line, up from 18.8 percent in 2000.

The report, which covers the first half of 2005, reveals that there are 403,000 poor families in Israel, representing 20.5 percent of the families in Israel - a figure that is up 9,000 families from last years report. Almost half of these families include at least one wage earner.

During Sharon's tenure as prime minister, the number of poor Israelis grew by 45 percent against an eight percent recorded growth in population. The poverty line, defined as half the median disposable income in Israel, has not changed by much in recent years. In 2000 it was NIS 1,753 per person per month, and has only risen to 1,804 or 5,411 for a family of five.

MKs blast the government for new poverty statistics
The poverty report prompted sharp responses from within the political establishment. In light of the report's findings, Meretz gathered the 25 signatures necessary to call the Knesset to a special debate, despite its recess, to take place on Thursday.

Labor MK Yuli Tamir said that the poverty report "proves that the Bibi [Netanyahu]-Olmert government has abandoned one-fourth of the public, pushing it beneath the poverty line. The government's policy is turning Israel into a third world nation, where the middle class practically does not exist."

Likud sources said in response to the figures, "Only the Likud, under the leadership of Netanyahu, who rescued Israel from collapse, can lead the struggle to overcome poverty now that the national coffers have been filled as a result of the economic policy."

Likud called on Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to pass the 2006 budget before elections in order to "give an immediate response to a string of social issues."

MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor), said in response to the report, "Olmert is deceiving the public, for instead of the plan he promised to fight poverty, he made do with press conferences and PR visits to soup kitchens. In the name of growth, Kadima and Likud are managing an opaque economic policy that is crushing Israeli society and hurting the middle class, many of whose members are approaching the poverty line."

MK Eli Yishai (Shas) said that the current government "turned poverty into a lethal bacteria that paralyzes the immune system. Everyone is saying what I've been screaming for three years. Attacking government allowances is like disconnecting a patient from a respirator. The government chose to destroy the poor instead of poverty."

Hadash-Ta'al Chairman MK Mohammad Barakah said that the government "declared a war on the poor and the weak instead of on poverty. In utter impudence, it robbed the remains of the allowances and transferred money to the wealthy.

"Whoever behaves cruelly to another nation will eventually behave cruelly to his own. The poor and the weak will pay the price of the occupation and the settlements."

Attorney Yuval Elbashan (Labor), a social activist that helped draw up Amir Peretz's plan for legal accessibility, said to Israel Radio, "The social policy that was spearheaded by the rightist government in the last five years has pushed the middle class under the poverty line. This is an intentional policy to make Israel attractive to investors by creating a cheap workforce. This is not a natural disaster or the hand of fate or anything else, except for a policy intended to make the rich richer and increase the poverty of the poor."

Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On said, "The government that threw so many people into poverty must be thrown out by the public."

MK Haim Oron, also of Meretz said, "The numbers are terrible - a world record in the poverty rate among developed nations, a world record in the gap between the poor and the rich."

A spokesperson from the Association for Civil Rights said that the NII report "proves that the economic policy of the government in recent years, which included the cutting of pensions, the failure to raise the minimum wage and the low wages of workers from the weaker sectors of society, has harmed the basic right of Israeli citizens to live in dignity."