Israel child poverty on dramatic rise over past 15 yrs

A new report shows that child poverty in Israel has been increasing dramatically in a period of 15 years.

The report, published by Israel’s National Council for the Child (NCC) on Thursday, showed that there has been a 55-percent rise in child poverty over the 15 years until the end of 2013.

The report, which did not provide figures for 2014, showed that 30.8 percent of Israeli children lived in poverty in 2013, a rise of 400% compared to 1980.

Yitzchak Kadman, the director of the NCC, said that “a large and significant number of Israeli children suffer very much.”

“Hundreds of thousands suffer from poverty, economic shortages and from social exclusion… Hundreds of thousands are in high risk and in grave danger. Even if you take into account the fact that there are certain overlaps between the groups of children, we still reach massive numbers and a well-based estimate of over a million children in Israel living in severe distress, in high risk and in danger,” he added.

Israel’s Labor Party also described poverty as “a threat that could dissolve Israeli society from within,” and accused Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “completely failing in the implementation of a program to end poverty.”

“A social avalanche in the form of over 800,000 poor children is happening right under his nose,” the Labor Party said, in reference to Netanyahu.

The findings of a poverty survey published by Israeli Humanitarian Aid Organization Latet showed that there are some 2,546,000 million poor people in Israel, including 932,000 children, Israel’s Jerusalem Post newspaper reported on Monday.

The report revealed that one fourth of the children in Israel went to sleep hungry at least a few times every month, while 65 percent of the kids do not receive a hot meal at school.

In addition, some 32 percent of poor children were sent to orphanages in 2014, which shows a sharp rise compared to 2013.