New report says poor giving up on nutritious food

from IRIN News

A new Israeli government report has said a third of the population has stopped buying vital nutritious food and is using any spare cash to pay for such things as utility bills.

The Ministry of Welfare, based on information from Israel's National Insurance Institute (NII), one of the backbones of the state's welfare system, released a poverty report on 1 April showing that 34 percent of citizens no longer bought vegetables and other nutritious foods, as their priority was to pay bills such as rent and electricity.

The report, in Hebrew only, is entitled The Inter-Ministerial Committee for Examining the Responsibility of the State for Ensuring the Food Security of its Citizens, and the NII data it uses does not include Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory, where food insecurity is more widespread.

"Israel must maintain its status as a welfare state and solve the issue of food insecurity for its citizens," said Yitzhak Herzog, the welfare minister.

The report spoke of "levels of food insecurity reaching worrying proportions".

The greatest need was recorded amongst Ultra Orthodox Jews, over half of whom lived in poverty, leading to reliance on charities. Some 37 percent of the Arab minority also needed help in keeping healthy food on the table.

No to government food aid

The report warned against direct government food aid to citizens, saying the best results would be achieved by the state allocating more funds to charities, but it said tackling food insecurity was the government's job.

Over 400 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) dedicated to providing the needy with basic food operate in Israel. The government has been called upon to increase its aid to these groups ten-fold.

"We estimate there are some 250,000 families in Israel suffering from food insecurity and deprived of sufficient nutrition," said Eran Weintraub, the director of Latet, the country's largest food aid charity.

While praising the committee's recommendations, he felt the amount required to meet the needs of the poor was much higher.

Israeli media reported that many charities were noticing an increase in the number of people requesting aid this year, in comparison with previous Passover holiday seasons.