The Knesset plenum today (Monday) unanimously approved, in second and third reading, the bill for the National Authority to Combat Poverty, which will be established in the Ministry of Social Affairs.
The chairman of the Labor and Welfare Committee, MK Israel Eichler, who worked on the wording of the law in the committee he headed for the past year, presented the final bill to the Knesset, including the addition he demanded that the authority be able to also take care of families that have not yet been defined as welfare families, in order to prevent them from falling into poverty.
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The bill's sponsors, MKs Yinon Azoulay and Yoni Meshriki, spoke about the merits of the law. Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri also came especially to speak in the plenary, and in his opening remarks thanked the committee chairman, MK Eichler, for his dedication and investment during a year of meetings and discussions on the law's formulas - until the final version.
After the law was approved, MK Eichler said that he thanked the Knesset members who voted in favor of the law - and reminded that the first halacha of the laws of Passover speaks of the important custom of giving wheat grains to the poor, so that they can celebrate Passover. "Today we were privileged to take an important and historic step for the poor of the Jewish people and for many families who, thanks to the authority's activities, would not fall into poverty at all. In the past, the state was poor and the citizens were rich. Today, the state is rich and its citizens are getting poorer.".
The establishment of the authority is the implementation of one of the main recommendations of the 'Allouf Committee' - the Committee to Combat Poverty in Israel, which recommended courses of action for a comprehensive fight against poverty, for expanding equal opportunities for all residents of Israel, and for operative actions to treat the population that applies to welfare services.
According to the bill: The National Authority for Combating Poverty will be established in the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security, and will formulate a policy to combat poverty and reduce gaps.
Among its functions: formulating annual and multi-annual plans to combat poverty and overseeing their implementation, submitting opinions to the government and the Knesset regarding the implications for the field of poverty resulting from primary legislation or secondary legislation in the Knesset committee, and coordinating between the various government ministries and between them and local authorities in all matters relating to the fight against poverty.
In addition, the Authority will work to establish a national center for information and research in the field of poverty and the fight against poverty, and will conduct outreach activities with the aim of deepening public awareness in the areas of dealing with poverty and economic planning.
The Minister of Social Affairs will appoint council members to the authority from among government ministries, local and regional governments, public representatives, academia, and aid organizations operating in the field, who will work to outline the authority's policy and lines of action.
Minister of Social Affairs Yaakov Margi said: "This is a historic and important day for the fight against poverty in Israel. We promised and we kept it! For the first time, a body will be established whose permanent agenda will be the issue of poverty. The establishment of the authority is one of the Shas movement's central election promises. I congratulate Shas Chairman Rabbi Aryeh Deri, who insisted on this in the coalition agreements, and worked tirelessly to advance the law. I intend to act immediately to establish the authority.".
