oints of view
>> Send letters to: letters®thejewishnews.com
Commentary
Editorial
U.S. Jews Should Respond To
Murders With More Than Tears
Israel Cannot Allow
Poverty To Fester
I
A
Moshe Phillips
Benyamin Korn
J
ews throughout the United States
held memorial services last week
to mourn the murders of the three
Israeli teenagers. There were tears, prayers
and words of consolation. Our mourning
needs to be followed by action — political
action.
The murder of the three Israeli boys is not
just an Israeli problem. It is an American
problem, too, both because one of the victims
was an American and because the U.S. gov-
ernment plays a major role in shaping what
happens between Israel and the Palestinians.
That's where the American Jewish com-
munity comes in. American Jews need to
undertake focused political action to urge the
Obama administration to help Israel in its
fight against the Hamas terrorists.
So far, the administration's response to
the crisis has been deeply disappointing.
Despite the kidnappings, President Obama
continues to recognize and support the
Palestinian Authority-Hamas unity regime.
The annual U.S. aid package of $500 million
to the Palestinian Arabs continues, even
though Hamas is now indirectly benefiting
from that aid.
Worse, the administration did not fully
take Israel's side in the pursuit of the kid-
nappers. In the midst of the ordeal, the
Dry Bones
THE KIDNAPPING
OF OUR BOYS
REVEALS THE
TRUTH ABOUT
ISRAEL!
State Department called on Israel to show
"restraint" in its actions against Hamas.
President Obama, in his statement fol-
lowing the discovery of the bodies of the
three victims, called on "all parties" to
refrain from steps that would "destabilize"
the situation. Such language has always
been a thinly disguised code word for urg-
ing Israel to go easy on the terrorists.
Since one of the kidnapped boys was an
American citizen, the Obama administration
could have done what it routinely does in
such situations — offer a multimillion dollar
reward for information leading to the capture
of the terrorists.
Yet even after the names of the kidnappers
were publicly revealed, the administration
refused to offer a reward. The U.S. govern-
ment website offering the rewards, www.
rewardsforjustice.net , has a section called
"success stories:" The majority of the victims
in those cases were from a single case, which
is rather similar to the kidnapping in Israel
— it, too, involved Islamist terrorists.
Here are a few practical steps that con-
cerned Americans can take:
• Call or email the White House (202-
456-1111 or whitehouse.gov/contact/
submit-questions-and-comments) and
urge the president to withdraw America's
recognition of the Palestinian Authority-
Hamas unity regime.
• Call the congressional
switchboard (202-224-3121)
and ask to be connected to
your member of Congress.
Urge your congress member
to support suspension of U.S.
aid to the Palestinian Arabs.
• Call the Department of
Justice (202-514-2000), which
administers the Rewards for
Justice program. Urge that a
reward be offered for informa-
tion leading to the capture of
the murderers of 16 year-old
U.S. citizen Naftali Fraenkel
and the other two boys.
Mourning is important. A
community in pain needs to
express its anguish. But there is
a time for mourning, and there
is a time for action. We have
mourned, we have cried. Now
is the time to dry our tears and
pick up the phones.
❑
The authors are members of
the board of New York-based
Religious Zionists of America.
28 July 10 • 2014
shocking statistic is that 1.8 million of Israel's
residents live in poverty. That's more than 20
percent of the population in the technologically and scientifi-
cally advanced democracy of 8.1 million people. Affected are 439,500
families and 817,200 children – Jews and Arabs alike.
Stunningly, Israel holds the second-highest poverty rate of any mem-
ber in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) network of developed nations, just ahead of Mexico.
Sure, the Israeli government must step up to the challenge of com-
bating such a distressing ranking. Budget constraints complicate the
challenge. The Netanyahu administration and the Knesset owe it to their
constituents to clear the hurdle.
Israel's war on poverty ramped up dramatically with the June 23
release of Committee to Fight Poverty recommendations that would cost
$1.7 billion if implemented. Recommendations include doubling supple-
mentary assistance and boosting support for the elderly.
Specific actions would cut social worker caseloads from up to 250 to
60, lower what seniors would pay for medications, lift rent subsidies,
increase public housing, add early childhood development centers and
expand learning assistance programs.
With the government starting work on the 2015 Israeli budget, the
findings come at a propitious time. The call to slash poverty in Israel by
40 percent, to reach the OECD average of 11 percent, within the next 10
years is both audacious and daunting.
Team Approach
Unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a clarion call and
attracts support for the poverty fight from influential government min-
isters and Knesset members, including Finance Minister Yair Lapid, it's
likely the scope of the task will be lost in the budget shuffle.
The findings represent the research of a 50-member committee
chaired by Israel Prize winner Eli Alalouf and commissioned by the
Welfare and Social Services Ministry. Israeli newspaper accounts show
widespread praise for the initiative, but few expectations for real results
in light of growing security needs and other priorities, including the mat-
ter of a high general cost of living.
Israel's top leaders must become sensitized to this framework for a
truly national poverty control plan, which smartly looks beyond just pro-
portionately higher poverty levels in Israel's Arab and haredi communi-
ties. What's needed to help shrink societal gaps is an effective, fundable
three- to five-year action plan that tackles the most urgent components
of the investment proposal.
Getting Started
Creating a larger job pool to give able, jobless breadwinners – whatever
their situation – a crack at breaking the cycle of poverty is a high prior-
ity. Committee recommendations take into account that jobs sometimes
can't be found despite concerted efforts and that earning minimum pay
sometimes still requires income support. Of course, the more people
in a household who gainfully work, the better. No one should ever feel
they could outwit the system by clinging to welfare. And the government
should always assure the jobless tried, in earnest, to land work before
granting welfare.
Addressing Israel's longstanding high cost of housing is crucial to solv-
ing the poverty crisis. The poorest of Israel's poor spend 40 percent of
their income on housing, infringing on such other basic needs as food,
education, healthcare and transit. Since 1998, public housing options
have fallen despite rising demand.
The Committee to Fight Poverty captured the essence of its report
well in tying government embrace of the report's message and related
recommendations to "continued development of the State of Israel and
improving the standard of living of all its citizens."
As the report underscored: "Poverty weakens Israeli society
economically, socially and militarily."
❑