Social groups seek PM's help to stay afloat

Several Israeli social groups sent Prime Minister Ehud Olmert a letter on Monday, in which they urged him to make the budgetary provisions necessary to keep the third sector afloat during the financial crisis.

Israel, as most democratic societies, is made up of three sectors: The public sector, which consists of national and local governmental organizations; the business sector, which consists of for-profit organizations and industries; and the third sector, which links the public and private sectors to families and individuals.

In the letter, the groups asked Olmert to include the third sector in the market stimulus plan prepared to ensure the business sector weathers the financial storm ahead.

The letter was signed by Shatil, the New Israel Fund's Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change, Yedid, a group dedicated to promoting social and economic justice in Israel, the Elem Foundation for youths at risk, and several other social groups.

Swift action needed

The groups noted that they approached the Treasury first but did not receive any response, and therefore decided to write to the prime minister. Copies of the letter have been sent to the heads of all the various Knesset committees, the head of the Histadrut labor federation and the heads of the business sector.

"With the privatization process in the market, the government is turning over more and more of its services to the associations, which in turn offer the weaker social classes the assistant the government doesn’t," Rachel Liel, director of Shatil, told Ynet.

"But these organizations do not get financial support from the government and so they find themselves relying on overseas philanthropists to sustain them financially.

"We exist to ensure those in need are taken care of," she added. "If we go under, who will look after them? The government understands that it must help small businesses. How can it just let the third sector collapse?"

Among the demands made in the letter, the groups asked Olmert to ensure swift budget allocations, once the government's own budgets is approved, as well as setting up an emergency fund which will ensure the organization would be able to continue their operations.

The groups further asked that a financial aid fund, as well as rescue grants, be made available for small and developing businesses.

The letter goes on to warn against the imminent collapse of the social aid organizations: "We, as many others business, have suffered from the fluctuation in dollar rates, even more so since the lion share of our income is in dollars, while our expenditures are made in shekels.

"The impending collapse of our organizations is a clear sign for the future employment crisis Israel is facing," the letter concluded ominously, "and many citizens stand to sustain a grave blow unless we receive government aid."