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42 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1989
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Israeli Poverty Issue
Draws Political Fire
ZE'EV CHAFETS
Israel Correspondent
A
re there people starv-
ing in Israel?
This question, star-
tling for a country that con-
siders itself a welfare state,
has become the center of an
acrimonious national debate
in recent days. The con-
troversy was touched off by
the publication of the annual
report on poverty by the Na-
tional Insurance Institute
(N l), Israel's social security
authority.
According to the report,
approximately half a million
people, including 250,000
children, live below the pov-
erty line, which it defines as
$240 per month for a single
person, $385 for couples and
$615 for a family of four.
In the past, NII reports
have usually elicited little
public interest. This time,
however, the Institute's fin-
dings were attacked by
Deputy Finance Minister
Yossi Beilen, who called
them a "statistical
misrepresentation" of the
country's true economic
situation.
Beilen argued that, since
the definition of the "pover-
ty line" is relative to
average national income,
and income has generally
increased in recent years,
Israel's poor are relatively
better off than ever before.
"No one is starving in this
country," he asserted.
Predictably, the Deputy
Finance Minister's remarks
drew fire from opponents in
the Likud; but he also came
under attack from his Labor
Party colleagues, who
charged him with insen-
sitivity and political ir-
responsibility.
Beilen has been a target of
his party's populist wing
ever since he remarked, a
few months ago, that Israelis
would have to learn to live
with unemployment. Last
week, Labor MK Eli Dayan
called for the Deputy Min-
ister's resignation, while
Shoshana Arbelli Almozlino,
a former Minister of Labor,
acidly commented that
Beilen, a "yuppie,"
misunderstood the situation
because he has never been
hungry. "He apparently
doesn't realize that people
cannot live on bread alone,"
she said.
This criticism was echoed
in the press, which quickly
produced a spate of articles
and interviews with poor
people who told of being
unable to feed and clothe
themselves and their
children. A televised story
about youngsters rummag-
ing in garbage dumps for
food was especially graphic,
and became a major topic of
conversation here for several
days.
Despite the anecdotal
evidence in the press,
however, most experts agree
that Beilen is correct; there
Yossi Beilin:
None starving.
is very little actual starva-
tion in Israel today.
"There is extreme poverty
here, and even malnutri-
tion," says Naomi Shander,
a professional social worker.
"But it's not like in
Bangaledesh. If there are
individuals who are hungry,
it's because they don't know
how to use the system. The
truth is that you can exist on
the services that the
government provides — but
that's about all."
Government services pro-
vide subsistance-level aid to
the disabled and extremely
poor in the form of social
security grants which usual-
ly range from $250 to $400
per month. In addition,
parents with two children or
more receive a monthly
government stipend of about
$25 per child. But because of
an unwillingness to single
out and stigmatize impover-
ished families, Israel has no
food stamp or personal
welfare programs.
Instead, the government
subsidizes basic com-
modities, such as bread,
cooking oil, rice, frozen
chicken and public
transporation. These sub-
sidies, like government child
stipends and old age pen-
sions, are universal, and are
thus enjoyed by rich and
poor alike.
The Likud has tradi-
tionally favored changing
the system by subsidizing
people instead of com-
modities; and it now appears
that Labor is moving in that
direction.
Beilen has called for a
means test that would end
child payments to the
wealthy and add welfare
money for the poor. This
week, his boss, Finance Min-
ister Shimon Peres, implicit-
ly endorsed this idea, telling
reporters that if the
government cut half its
stipends, it would generate
enough money to give every
family in Israel four thou-.
sand dollars a year. "You
can't pay stipends to every-
one and then ask why every-
one doesn't get enough,"he
said.
The existence, in classless
Israel, of two classes — one
well off enough to take care
of itself, the other in des-
perate need of public
assistance —has become
painfully obvious.
According to a study by
Yoram Gabai of the Finance
Ministry, published last
September, the top 10 per-
cent of Israeli income-
earners (excluding money
derived from capital gains)
average close to $4,700 per
month before taxes; while
the bottom 10 percent
average $170. Even after
taxes, the top 10 percent
earn approximately six
times as much as the lowest
10 percent. This disparity,
government analysts say, is
greater than that which ex-
ists in Great Britain.
Proposals to limit aid to
the needy raise another
question: Where to draw the
line? Many Israeli wage
earners are only slightly
above the poverty line, and
any change in the subsidy
system could drop them
below it.
Motti and Aviva Cohen
(not their real names) have
three children. He works in
Jerusalem as a government
chauffeur and earns IS 1300
($650) a month; she has a
part-time government
secretarial job that brings in
another IS 800 ($400). In
theory, they are comfortably
over the poverty line, but in
practice, they are unable to
make ends meet.
"If someone decides that
people like us don't need
subsidies and child stipendS,