Poverty figures exaggerated

Concern for the poor and needy has been one of the favored means recently for leftist activists, in search of an agenda in the wake of the bursting of the peace/disengagement/realignment bubble.

As usual, this concern is joined voluntarily by the overwhelming majority of major media, which convey a uniform message preaching against greedy capitalism that has apparently emerged here.

According to this message, the State of Israel is among the cruelest countries on earth, pushes the weak far from sight, fails to assist them and abandons them to a life of meagerness, misery, and begging. The situation is of course much more complex and much less dark than these "social activists" try to sell us.

There is an assistance

There's no doubt that in Israel today there are many thousands who live in distress and who need assistance even for day-to-day living. Yet "poverty activists" try to hide the simple fact that such assistance is provided generously and to a very large extent:

The State of Israel earmarks about NIS 50 billion (roughly USD 12 billion) to help its needy through the various National Insurance Institute allowances. Another roughly NIS 3.5 billion are provided through the Ministry of Labor and Welfare and yet another NIS 4.5 billion are granted through various subsidized basic food items.

We're talking about a huge sum close to NIS 60 billion, roughly 20 percent of the State budget. And by the way, this is the largest expenditure in the budget - much larger than the "sacred" defense budget.

The grants are the noblest expression of mutual help provided by strong population sectors to weak ones. Every one of us funds those grants through income tax and National Insurance payments taken from our salaries, and we in fact provide them willingly and even joyfully, through the State, to those poor sectors.

Of course, just like everything else in the world, even this huge sum cannot address all the needs and distress within Israeli society. However, it's also clear that boundless help would turn all of us from donors to needy beggars. It will always be possible to come up with heartbreaking distress stories, but we must recall those are the exception.

Distribution

We must also stress that poverty in the State of Israel is not distributed among society equally. The major poverty pockets are concentrated in the ultra-Orthodox and Arab communities.

It's clear that these two population sectors are eligible for assistance just like other needy citizens, and they indeed are the major beneficiaries of the various allowances. Poverty in the ultra-Orthodox sector is voluntary, as a result of the average Orthodox man's desire to study the Torah for many years and not work for a living.

This voluntary poverty is usually not accompanied by phenomena of distress, misery and crime, which characterize poor populations. The Orthodox community also "sobered up" a little in face of the need to go out and work, following the cuts to allowances.

On the other hand, poverty in the Arab community is mostly not voluntary, but rather, stems from its minority status, and thus exhibits all the characteristics of societies facing distress and need.

Yet in those two population sectors the extent of distress and need is not as overwhelming as presented by dry income stats – in light of the extent of the economic black market operating there for many years.

In any case, we must note that the overwhelming majority of Israel's population enjoys relative welfare (even if it's clear that any television show dealing with the issue won't show poor Orthodox or Arab people, as a result of the desire to market poverty as an all-Israeli problem and not one limited to certain sectors.)

Twisted image of reality

The scary figures published yearly in the poverty report create to some extent of a twisted image of reality: The poor in Israel are defined as those whose income is lower than half the average salary.

The implication of this definition is the measuring of relative poverty, and not absolute poverty of distress and need. According to this method, as more civilians will enjoy higher salaries, the average income will go up, and with it the number of "poor." After all, those workers whose income did not grow as fast as the average income will be considered poor, even though there has been no change in their objective situation.

The State of Israel has seen a political struggle raging between the Left and Right for years now. This struggle recently took on a socioeconomic character as a result of the crumbling of the illusions of peace and unilateralism. Every heartbreaking image of an empty fridge is part of this struggle. Yet it's important to recall that the phenomenon of poverty and need is part of the life of all human beings.

The State does much in order to assist the weak, yet the major responsibility is entrusted with each and every one of us to do as much as we can in order not to burden the public, and to help as much as possible brothers in distress.

The writer works in high-tech and is active in organizations that help the poor