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Another confrontation that will be brought to the attorney general's decision: the battle over Deri's food stamps - voila! news

2023-06-04T16:30:43.763Z

Highlights: The attorneys general in the Finance and Interior Ministries submitted opposing opinions regarding the approval of the plan that the Shas chairman seeks to advance. Finance Attorney General Assi Messing hints that distribution tests are biased towards the ultra-Orthodox population. Interior Attorney General believes: "Haredim suffer from poverty and food insecurity" In the current state of affairs, the one who will have to decide on the issue is Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara. As of this writing, it has not yet made a decision.


The attorneys general in the Finance and Interior Ministries submitted opposing opinions regarding the approval of the plan that the Shas chairman seeks to advance. In the opinion obtained by Walla!, Finance Attorney General Assi Messing hints that distribution tests are biased towards the ultra-Orthodox population. On the other hand, the Interior Attorney General believes: "Haredim suffer from poverty and food insecurity"


It is not every day that we can see how gaps in economic perception dictate the judgment of the legal advisers in the various government ministries. Various legal opinions on the same subject obtained by Walla! The food stamp distribution initiative promoted by Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri shows how a different economic approach to ultra-Orthodox society and the provision of aid to the needy may affect the government's distribution of funds.

The project is at the center of a legal dispute between the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of Finance, Adv. Assi Messing, and the Legal Advisor of the Ministry of the Interior, Yehuda Zemerat (full disclosure: the undersigned was an attorney in Zemeret's office between 2018-2017). In the current state of affairs, the one who will have to decide on the issue is Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara. As of this writing, it has not yet made a decision.

Gali Baharav Miara, Aryeh Deri (Photo: Reuven Castro, Flash 90 Jonathan Zindler)

Most of the dispute between the two legal advisers concerns a clause in the coalition agreements for the project of allocating food stamps to the needy in a total amount of NIS 400 billion over two years (NIS 600 million this year and another NIS 2024 million in <>). This is a program that the Ministry of the Interior implemented during the COVID-<> period, in which those eligible to receive the permits were those entitled to a property tax discount, as well as residents who met the conditions of the per capita income test but did not submit a request for a Arnona tax discount from the local authority.

According to the opinion obtained by Walla!, Finance Ministry Legal Advisor Messing opposes the plan and states in his opinion that other criteria should be formulated for the distribution of the notes, mainly on the grounds that the distribution of the notes is based "on a test of per capita income and not on a test of disposable income, for example, for the purchase of food, which is the test accepted today in the welfare system."

Messing wants to emphasize not the amount of money the family earns gross each month in the family's bank account, but the amount left for the family, net, to purchase food. "The per capita income test ignores fixed expenses that each household has that do not depend on the number of members in it, and is therefore aimed at large families, which will mainly be eligible for food stamps. Thus, the per capita income test creates a distortion and irrelevant distinction between large families and small families, even when their disposable income is lower and therefore their food insecurity is greater," Messing explained.

From the opinion of Assi Messing (Photo: official website, none)

In addition, the Attorney General of the Ministry of Finance hinted in his opinion that the distribution of food stamps according to the tests set during the coronavirus period are biased towards Haredi families, although Messing did not say this explicitly, but according to his remarks, the tests conducted on the subject indicate a discrepancy between receiving the vouchers and real neediness: "It should be added that various tests and studies conducted in connection with assistance during the coronavirus period give quantitative expression to the non-conformity of the regulations that qualify for the need for food security assistance and the aforementioned difficulties, and indicate a low correlation between the presence of food insecurity and Receiving food stamps as part of the assistance during the COVID-19 crisis according to previous standards."

Adv. Assi Messing (Photo: official website, gov.il)

On the other hand, the Interior Ministry's legal advisor, who formulated his opinion last weekend, actually believes that the use of the income test is preferable to the use of the disposable income test: "It should be emphasized that the purpose of relying on the income test within the framework of the criteria for assistance in food security derives from the fact that this test was chosen because it is an objective test. An examination of the income of each person, and certainly the income of a family taking into account the number of persons in it, constitutes a relevant criterion by which such financial assistance is provided."

Regarding the claim that the program discriminates in favor of the haredi population, Zemerat writes: "Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that it is not clear what those who complained about the scope of assistance given to the haredi population, and certainly against the rate given to the rest of the Jewish population when, as stated, it is about providing assistance according to an existing income test, when unfortunately the extent of poverty is not divided equally and the scope of the haredi population, which has been recognized as being below the poverty line and significantly exceeds that of the general Jewish population."

From the opinion composed by a singer (photo: official website, none)

The Interior Ministry Attorney General further wrote in his opinion: "The totality of the characteristics of the Haredi population indicates that it is a population prone to food insecurity, due to the combination of the extent of poverty and food insecurity in Haredi society against the background of its economic situation and employment characteristics, and wages together with the large number of children per family relative to the various populations, which is also a significant parameter for creating food insecurity. In light of this, it is not surprising that the ultra-Orthodox population objectively requires expanded assistance from its relative share of the rest of the population. It should be clarified that the foregoing does not constitute agreement with the data presented by the Finance Ministry from various studies whose methodology we are not aware of."

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  • Aryeh Deri
  • Haredim
  • Gali Baharav Miara

Source: walla

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