""I've been living on flakes for months, meat is a rumor, asking my mother for help""

July 5, 2020   

Golan Yochfaz and Anat Davidov spoke this morning (Sunday) with Tomer Amsalem, Taoran, and Karin Dvir, a social worker, about the controversial statement made by Minister Tzachi Hanegbi of the Likud. "I have to say that I was actually happy that Tzachi appeared on television and said that, because he finally simply told the truth," said Amsalem, "He got away with it, he didn't mean to, he's used to being a liar like his fellow politicians in the Israeli government, but the truth got away with it. I think the people who are angrier at Tzachi than the people are his friends that he exposed. In other words, you're a disgrace, we're not putting you on the spot, he got away with it." Yochfaz: "Do you think that this position, this disgrace, is the position of the entire government or just that of Tzachi Hanegbi and Hanegbi jumped on it?" Amsalem: "No, he didn't jump the gun. It seems that this is a policy that is being managed wonderfully, the only policy by the way that the Israeli government manages to manage wonderfully - the policy in which they don't put pressure on the citizens in Israel." Yochfaz: "Listen, it's working so far, at least according to the polls it's working great." Amsalem: "What's the name?" Yochfaz: "41 seats for Netanyahu." Davidov: "41, 38, and this just so happens to be the moment." "I'm one of the people who elect Netanyahu," Amsalem said on 103FM, "I'm fed up and it's hard for me to say, unfortunately, that I'm part of this people." He explained: "If people don't open their eyes and see who is leading them and where, our future is not bright at all. Netanyahu has been creating a dictatorship here for over ten years and he's not even willing to come and say, guys, I want to be your dictator." According to him, he doesn't have the courage to stand up and stand in front of his people and tell them, guys, I want to be your dictator. "He is not willing to bear the consequences of this, even though it is very clear and these are the laws that he and his party legislate. "Those who join him in his government are people who also do not declare it, but by their actions and joining, they come and say that we have no problem with a dictatorship in the State of Israel.". What does it look like to you, this poverty, this hunger that Tzachi Hanegbi speaks about with such disdain and detachment? ""It looks like it sounds, a loaf of bread. Counting a slice of bread for a slice of bread is going to the supermarket with a certain amount of money that you know you can spend, and seeing products that don't even make up the total amount for the purchase. You go with fifty shekels, you don't buy a kilo of meat. If you buy, then you owe something more, but there's no more money.". What do you live on, what do you eat physically? ""Mainly flakes. Speaking of flakes, it really feels like the austerity period to me. It's a product that was invented during the austerity period, Ben Gurion rice. I eat flakes, it's cheap, it's carbohydrate, it's satisfying. Meat has been a rumor for the last four months, counting bread for bread.". How long have you been like this? ""From March 11th. I will never forget, it was the last event I worked on, and since then the world has been shattered to pieces for me.". You're a writer. Tell me, have you thought about changing jobs, anything? ""I dropped the whole honor thing and went looking for a job as a garbage collector at the municipality. They don't need workers because people are suddenly becoming more efficient, they want to save. But they're right because the state isn't giving anything and the period is uncertain, so why would they hire new workers? I went to supermarkets all over Haifa where I live, in the neighborhood and beyond, why would supermarkets hire new workers now?". Errands, Walt, food like that? ""There is no vault in Haifa, and there are huge numbers of couriers. Being a courier in my opinion is a life-threatening risk. It's not like Domino's lowers security for half an hour, and if you see how couriers drive on the street, I'd rather protect my life than die." Amsalem said that he had never counted how many people are in a crisis similar to his. "For the record, right now in the street I can easily count over ten. Really, just thinking about it," he explained, "I try to leave the house at least once a day, to go for a walk to get some air so as not to get depressed." He added: "I felt like I was at risk of falling into depression. I'm sitting at home because I don't have money for anything, really, I don't have money to leave the house. I'd rather not spend five shekels on public transportation, I'll sit at home and what will I think about?" He said that he received the grants after a long period - during which he was forced to take out a loan to survive: "These three grants once didn't buy me bread at home. In total, I received five thousand shekels for three-four months, and the amount went to the bank and was absorbed in the deficit and loans.". Who helps you? ""My mother tries to support me as much as she can with what she has. She is a 55-year-old social worker who is on strike starting tomorrow, because socialism in this country is a lie, or at least helping the citizen is a lie. Leave socialism and big words alone.". Tell me, at the end of this conversation, if Tzachi Hanegbi hears us now, what would you say to him? ""I call on him to do two things: one, take his inflated salary and give it to the people who need it because he doesn't need a single penny of his salary.". He sings without a portfolio, I remind you. ""So from what he does or doesn't do with himself in the Knesset, I don't know what this man does in life if that's the case, so why did they even bring him to speak out if he's a minister for nothing? I would recommend that he take the money he has and has, give it to the people and resign, do it outside of this shocking government as well, and start working for his people if that's what he became an MK for. 120 MKs who are friends of Tzachi don't know what they do, a MK is a person who helps his people.". Later in the program, Yochpaz and Davidov spoke with Karin Dvir, a social worker active in Lod, who said: "Do you know? The Negbi is just a symptom. He is the first swallow for all those who are silent and think that there is no poverty." According to her, "The coronavirus brought the backyard to the forefront, and unfortunately the fact that he came and said in prime time that it is a pity is indicative of a policy of years of not seeing the weakest link in society.". What will happen after August before the holidays? When unemployment benefits end, it will be very difficult to extend them a third time, and people will literally not have money to even celebrate the holidays. ""Have you seen what's happening in Africa and other third world countries? This is what will happen here.". Looting? Theft? Hunger? Sick people? ""Look, I'm not a prophet, but I can tell you that when a person acts out of pressure or fear, or hysteria, their decisions are wrong." Do you see this in the people you treat? That they are on the verge of making irrational, criminal decisions, decisions that they wouldn't make in any other situation? "Yes, and I see it starting in homes.". What is the most frequent problem you deal with? ""Hunger, hungry people. I talked to people who don't have food to give their children because the children are at home and they are being laid off and they are in great anxiety. Some don't eat so that the children have something, some go to soup kitchens, many patients who weren't in the ward before have arrived, normal, normative families." Dvir said: "In these families we often learn about mutual guarantees. During the Corona period, there was a case where the older children in the family didn't tell their parents that they weren't eating, so that their younger children would have something to eat, and that is very sad and infuriating." She added: "It's time for some kind of great awakening among our elected officials, to understand that it's not nice to look at their country's backyard, but that backyard is already at the forefront, and if they don't give budgets for welfare, it's true that it takes time to see results, but these are people for whom every person is a whole world and we, the workers, cannot continue to put our hand on the dam and say the water won't flow.". How close are we to the phenomena of theft, looting, and violence on the streets? ""First of all, there is already violence, I really hope we don't say looting because I still have hope that the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister will understand that tomorrow everything will be solely on their shoulders. This is a situation that is very stressful and worrying for me, but I hope they will understand that they must take responsibility and start leveraging the budgets to places that really need them. Because you know, giving a budget to Israel Railways is a great and important thing, but there is still a very large part of the people here who need help." So you mean to freeze everything now and give only to those who need it, because people are not working because there is no food because there is no money? "Right, look at all the weakened companies and say for a moment how do I solve things here? And no excuse me, are you renovating my pool in Caesarea?". You are all going to strike tomorrow, all the workers. ""Yes. It's a struggle for our society because we can't take it anymore. I treat about 120 families, which comes out to around 650 patients. Dealing with suffering is not an easy thing, and having to endure the hardship of these people for many years, we are learning with our own money to take care of ourselves so that we can come to patients not from a place of identification. I have reached a point where I currently have to go against my natural reflex to help.". Karin, what is your salary? ""I earn 6,000 shekels a month, not including the on-call hours I work.".