Protest against Kadima-UTJ agreement

Social organizations condemn move to grant money to large families, say law will discriminate in favor of Arab, ultra-Orthodox families and hurt small families
Neta Sela

Social organizations protested an agreement reached through coalition talks with the United Torah Judaism, according to which monthly budgets will be granted to families with many children. According to the agreement, the budgets will be granted to families with over four children.

Agreement

Kadima lures UTJ to coalition with funding deal / Ilan Marciano

Sides reach agreement regarding funds for families with five or more children, but disagreements remain on religion and state issue, as well as on jobs waiting for UTJ MKs should they join government

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The Yedid organization and the Israel Religious Action Center turned to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday with a demand to grant funds bases on equal criteria, and not based on sector.

The social organizations claim that the same grant will mainly serve families from the Arab and ultra-Orthodox sector, in which the families with the largest number of children are, and will discriminate in favor of Arab or ultra-Orthodox families and hurt families in distress who do not have four or more children.

"The obligation of the Israeli government to rescue Israeli families from the circles of poverty and distress must be done in an equal manner and in a way which does not wrongly discriminate between families which belong to difference sectors of society," a letter to Olmert by Yedid Associate Director Ran Melamed and Rabbi Gilad Kariv from the Israel Religious Action Center said.

"A governmental move which will leave many families below the poverty line only because they are small, despite their socioeconomic standing, is an unacceptable move which harms the values of equality and the legal value of respect of man," the letter added.