UNICEF: ISRAEL’S CHILD POVERTY RATE SURPASSES MEXICO AND CHILE:
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Israel has the highest level of inequality among children in the world’s 41 most developed countries, according to a United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) report released 14 April, 2016. The report cited Israel’s 27.5 percent rate of child poverty as the highest among the countries ranked, surpassing Mexico and Chile. Israeli politicians were quick to respond to the UNICEF findings. Knesset Committee on Children’s Rights chairman Yifat Shasha-Bitton said she found the report disconcerting, but that Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon made fighting poverty a priority. "We will continue to do all we can to make sure children in Israel and their family’s conditions will improve and be a source of pride,” she stated. Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee chairman Eli Alalouf said, "The report is shocking, and we must discuss it as soon as possible.” MK Dov Henin said that PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies are "endangering children’s lives. Whoever cuts welfare services, privatizes the education system and dries out public health is knowingly leading to a reality in which children go to school hungry and parents have difficulty finding the money to pay for children’s dental care or textbooks,” Henin said. (J. Post) This is a tragic report for the nation of Israel. Please pray Israel’s leaders will not just "discuss” the plight of children, the elderly, Holocaust victims and entire families who suffer from poverty, but will knuckle down to make real changes that can be felt as genuine relief for the nation’s poor.
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