The Jerusalem Post reports: “Poverty is the biggest danger facing Israel today, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog warned Monday as he unveiled disturbing data from the National Insurance Institute’s Annual Poverty Report for 2009. The report pointed to a sharp increase in the number of Israeli families joining the poverty cycle, with more than 15,000 families – or 123,500 individuals – joining the growing ranks of poor people in this country in 2009, following the global economic crisis that set in at the tail-end of 2008.”
“The report further noted that most of the families experiencing a drop in their standard of living actually had one working family member, with many having been forced to take severe pay cuts and others losing their jobs, and consequently their incomes, entirely.
“This report comes out after the start of the global economic crisis and makes clear that there was a dramatic increase in poverty in 2009,” Herzog said at a press conference in Jerusalem. “I’ve said this time and time again: Poverty is Israel’s biggest danger. We love talking about poverty, but not about the actual poor…”
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