Bread price increase prompts anger
Government raises bread costs by 7 percent; Social welfare activists blast move
The government has increased the price of bread by seven percent, prompting outrage by social welfare organizations.
The prices of bread will rise on average by 7.11 percent, causing a rise of between 24 – 40 agurot in costs.
Eran Weintraub, Director-General of the To Give (Latet) welfare organization, told Ynet on Friday: "We are concerned about the fact that the first decision to be made by ministers is an anti-social decision, something that signifies that the 'social government' was apparently nothing but an elections slogan."
The increase in the price of bread came following a suggestion by the pricing committee, a cross-ministry panel, which recommended that the price of sales to retailers of products be set at a permanent fixed price, without the possibility of discount.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accepted the recommendation, and signed the decree on the eve of Independence Day.
"As the Israeli people celebrated Independence Day, the prime minister signed a decision which will further harm the economic independence of over 400,000 needy families in Israel," said Weintraub.
He added: "The raising of prices of basic necessities in a country with such a high poverty rate shows the disconnection and dullness of senses by the politicians. The To Give organization will continue to aid thousands of poor families in Israel and calls on politicians to adopt a policy aimed at eradicating poverty."
'Deceitful government'
Ehud Shem Tov, a member of the Forum for the War on Unemployment, said Friday morning: "A government that speaks about raising the minimum wage and the first thing it does is raise the price of bread is a deceitful government. For three months the parties waged a campaign with social messages but after it is established its answer to raise the price of bread. This way the government shows that its main message to citizens is that the profits of the marketing authorities is more important to it than the citizens. The market authorities claim they losing out on bread sales."
