Government aid during the COVID-19 crisis proved critical to preventing the standard of living in Israel from dropping by 10%, according to the findings of the National Insurance Institute's annual Poverty Report.

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 Released Wednesday, the report noted that while overall, the standard of living went up by 2.4% in 2020, some 1.92 million Israelis – 21% of the population – still fell below the poverty line, 864,600 of them children, and 158,700 thousand of them people over retirement age, according to financial daily Globes. This was a decrease from 2019, when 21.6% of the population fell below the poverty line.

Despite the improvement, some 665,000 children and 500,000 families in Israel remain food insecure.

The poverty line is calculated in relation to median net income per capita, which came to 2,811 shekels ($904.69) a month in 2020, Globes explained. The addition of other forms of income from investments and other forms of support outside of that provided by the National Insurance Institute raised the poverty line by 230 shekels (around $74).

A two-person household with a joint income below 5,623 shekels ($1,811), a couple with one child making less than 7,450 shekels ($2,400), and a couple with three children earning under 10,543 shekels ($3,396) would all be considered below the poverty line.

Among families in which at least one member was self-employed, the poverty rate reached 16.6%. Among employees, that rate dropped from 17.8% in 2019 to 17% in 2020.

Israel's Gini coefficient, which demonstrates the degree of income and wealth inequality, shows a decline in net income inequality over the last six months. Compared to other countries, the social assistance provided at this time placed Israel near the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average compared to its low ranking in previous years.

Jerusalem tops Israel's poverty list, followed by the Judea and Samaria region, and the southern city of Ashdod.

The National Insurance Institute has recommended the raising of allowances that serve as a last safety net for low-income families or those in temporary distress, among them income benefits, pension funds, and unemployment benefits.

According to Welfare and Social Services Minister Meir Cohen, "What stands out most from the report is that when a state intervenes and has a welfare policy, it aids the weaker populations and lifts them out of poverty.

"I grew up in the periphery [region]. Every day, I see the people, the stories behind the numbers that appear in the report. If there's one thing that keeps me up at night it's poverty and inequality, and that's why the report sharpens for me the steps that were taken for the good of weaker sectors like the continued doubling of stipends, reforms on rights for people with handicaps, benefits for the unemployed returning to the labor force, assistance for senior citizens, and others will be implemented and in practice lift weak populations out of poverty. That is my mission."   

NII Director-General Meir Spiegler said: "From the outbreak of the coronavirus crisis, the National Insurance [Institute] has understood the magnitude of the event and made societal and social decisions like the unpaid leave framework, in parallel with the promotion of legislation aiding populations that found themselves in a difficult situation, like those aged 67 and over, single-parent families, and those eligible for income benefits, which saved hundreds of thousands of families from poverty, and positioned the State of Israel anear the OECD average in investment in citizens during the coronavirus crisis period, which served as a wakeup call to Israeli society on the need for independent and stable national insurance that provides a social safety net and promotes welfare policies for those who need it. This is the human and economic conscience in a properly functioning society."

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Iran's judicial authorities reportedly banned a newspaper Monday for publishing a front-page graphic that appeared to show Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's hand drawing the poverty line in the Islamic Republic amid widespread anger over the nation's cratering economy.

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The semiofficial Mehr news agency said Iran's media supervisory body shut down the daily newspaper Kelid after it published a front-page article titled "Millions of Iranians Living under Poverty Line" on Saturday.

Under the headline, the graphic shows a person's left hand holding a pen and drawing a red line across the page as silhouettes of people underneath are reaching up to the line.

The graphic resembled an earlier image of Khamenei writing on a piece of paper with his left hand, a prominent ring on one of his fingers. His right has been paralyzed since a 1981 bombing.

The Young Journalists Club, a group associated with state television, earlier reported that censors were examining the newspaper after the publication. The state-run IRNA news agency acknowledged Kelid had been shut down, without explaining the reason for the decision.

Kelid could not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday. Their website has been taken offline.

Iran, whose state-dominated economy has long faced trouble since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been under increased pressure since former US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

The Iranian rial is now about 281,500 to the dollar – compared with 32,000 rials for $1 at the time when the 2015 nuclear deal was struck. With US sanctions still strangling the economy, record-breaking inflation has hit ordinary Iranians where it hurts most. Stunned shoppers are cutting meat and dairy from their diets, buying less and less each month.

While radio and television stations are all state-controlled in Iran, newspapers and magazines can be owned and published by private individuals. However, Iranian journalists face constant harassment and the threat of arrest in the country, according to press advocacy groups.

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Plans to raise the price of bread for the first time in 44 years have shocked Egyptians already struggling to get by in a country where state-subsidized loaves have kept the poorest fed since the 1960s.

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In declaring this week that it was time to hike bread prices, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi aims to curb an expensive subsidy program that serves some two-thirds of Egypt's 100 million people and has helped keep political dissent at bay.

Some 30% of Egyptians fall beneath the government's poverty line, with incomes below 857 pounds ($54.73) a month. Many do not have access to running water or sanitation.

The minimum monthly wage is 2,400 pounds ($153) but that is sometimes not paid in the informal sector, where roughly two-thirds of Egyptians work. Joblessness was at 7.2% at the end of last year and has been chronically higher among young people.

However, economists have said for years that Egypt, the world's biggest wheat importer, and the Arab world's most populous country, must rein in subsidies to modernize its economy.

Bread subsidies now weigh ever heavier on the budget as supply jitters have driven up global wheat prices during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bread subsidies were set at nearly 45 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.9 billion), just over half of the food subsidy bill, for the fiscal year ending in June. This amounts to roughly 1.8% of overall state spending.

"It is time for the 5-piaster (0.32 US cent) loaf to increase in price," Sisi said during televised remarks at the opening of a food production plant on Tuesday, referring to a round 90-gram loaf known as 'eish baladi.'

Sisi said he hoped the news would not be poorly received and that the government was not planning a big increase. "It's incredible to sell 20 loaves for the price of a cigarette," he said.

The government has already pared back subsidies on electricity and fuel, ushering in annual increases in their price since 2016 as part of market reforms linked to financing from the International Monetary Fund.

Egyptian governments have long exercised caution when it comes to the price of bread, which in Egyptian colloquial speech derives its name from the Arabic word for 'life.'

An attempt in 1977 by then-President Anwar Sadat to increase bread prices set off deadly riots across Egypt that did not subside until the decision was rescinded.

Sisi's government has been gradually laying the ground for change, however, notably by rolling out cash transfer programs that better channel state subsidies to the neediest.

"There's been a long softening-up process for this step, including the reductions in the weight of the loaf from 130g to 110g and then to 90g last August," said David Butter, an analyst for the Middle East and North Africa at Chatham House.

"So the message that the 5p loaf is not sacrosanct has been out there for some time."

Some calculations suggest that simply doubling the price to 10 piasters could save up to 4 billion pounds a year, he said.

Hassan Mohammadi, head of the Bakeries Division at the Grain Chamber of the Federation of Egyptian Industries, said the decision was overdue: "People eat the front and leave the back, and they use it as fodder for birds and livestock," he said, suggesting a 100g loaf should be sold at 10 piasters.

What this means for the poor – for whom the state-subsidized loaf, accompanied by whatever else they can afford, represents a meal – is the heart of the matter for Sheikh Ibrahim Radwan, a preacher in a mosque in the Nile Delta city of Kafr El-Sheikh north of Cairo.

"Mr. President, the poor man gets anything simple [to eat] with subsidized bread. We cannot dispense with that or afford any increase in the cost," Radwan said, addressing Sisi.

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The Haredi community is full of kindness, but it is merciless. The rabbis set up community's boundaries. Anyone who diverges from the strict community line is condemned, and the ability of them and their family to continue living in the community suffers a serious blow.

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The violence in Haredi towns plays badly, but this isn't the real challenge facing the Haredim when it comes to Israeli society. Even when COVID is a thing of the past, the walls the Haredim built between themselves and the rest of society will remain high, and COVID has dug a deep moat around them. Two states for one people. The low point of the violent riots during the third lockdown is a symptom of the real problem. After two decades of attempts to integrate the Haredim into Israeli life, the results are limited. The main trend in mainstream Haredi society is still one of isolationism and enclosure. Even at the price of people's lives, as we have seen over the course of this past year. The conclusion is that Israel cannot allow itself the privilege of allowing Haredi isolationism to continue.

Israel is currently home to 1.175 million Haredim, who make up 12.5% of the population. Haredi society is very young, with the median age only 16. The average birth rate among Haredim women is 6.6 children, apparently the highest in the western world. The community's size is giving it more influence than it had in the past over Israel's society and economy, an influence that has grown along with the rapid demographic expansion.

By the early 2000s, it was clear that it was vital to integrate them to make Israel more egalitarian and allow it to flourish, or at least retain the quality of life of a leading western nation. Since then, the government has passed a series of laws and cabinet decisions and project initiatives designed to bring Haredim into the army, the economy, higher education, and society at large. Those behind these ideas hoped that if the Haredim integrated, the ideological and social gap between them and the other Israelis would narrow, and the walls that surrounded the community would come down.

On some issues, the efforts had limited success, while completely failing when it came to other matters. Let's start with the demand for an "equal sharing of the burden" – the demand that Haredi yeshiva students serve in the IDF. After 20 years of ping-pong that went back and forth between the Knesset and the Supreme Court, deals that were made and then crumbled, and the IDF's attempts to recruit Haredim, a few months ago the naked truth was revealed: Almost no Haredim serve in the military. What's more, most of them think that even Haredim who do not devote their time to Torah study shouldn't have to serve in the IDF. The value of serving the state, which is so central to the Israeli experience, is of no interest to the Haredim.

An effective political force

The second challenge is bringing Haredim into the workforce. On this issue, government policies and market forces saw some success. While strides were made in bringing Haredi women into the labor market and 77% of Haredi women of working age are now employed, compared to 84% of non-Haredi Jewish women of working age, the percentage of Haredi men who work remains extremely low. While 88% of working-age non-Haredi Jewish men are in the workforce, only 52.5% of Haredi men of working age are. In addition, Haredi men who do work earn dramatically less than non-Haredi Jewish men, with the average monthly salary for a Haredi man comprising only 56% of what a non-Haredi Jewish man earns. All this keeps Haredi society trapped in desperate poverty. Over half (52%) of Haredim, and 60% of Haredi children, live beneath the poverty line, compared to 9% of the children in the non-Haredi Jewish sector.

Attempts to integrate Haredim into other areas of life have also failed. Initiatives to steer them toward higher education have led to an increased number of Haredi college and university students, but still only a small number seek it out.

Meanwhile, the Haredi school system, particularly the boys' schools, do not train them for the job market or for Israeli citizenship. The vast majority of men who go through the Haredi school system are ignorant of anything except the Torah, and they have little ability to bridge those education gaps when they are in their 20s and 30s. Neither Haredi boys nor girls learn civics, and they have an insufficient understanding of "Israeliness." Some Haredi schools still have an anti-Zionist orientation, which also influences the Haredi perception of their place and their obligations as citizens of Israel.

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There is a reason for these failures and why the Haredi are not integrating into Israeli society. Haredi society is defined by and exists because of its isolationism, which serve to maintain its values, but have turned into a value unto themselves. The more Israel tried to bring them into society, the more Haredi spiritual and political leaders take a contrarian approach and fight the state's attempts to include them.

This plays out along two main axes: the spiritual-communal and the economic-political. Haredi society, as we have said, is full of kindness, but lacks mercy. The fences are put up by the rabbis. Every Hassidic rebbe encloses his own court and every yeshiva head or Torah authority has his own audience. The rabbinical and political leadership condemns anyone who steps out of line immediately. To maintain a Haredi lifestyle, and prevent the members of the community from starving, the Haredim wield their political power effectively, securing massive budgets for their institutions and their Torah scholars.

At the same time, the Haredim have developed a worldview according to which, whether Israeli society recognizes it or not, they are the ones who keep Israel going. They way they see it, the other Israelis work in the material world – the army, the economy – to serve the holy purpose of the Haredi way of life.

Other Israelis' lives

As it did with so many things, COVID intensified these trends and put them into the spotlight. This time, in order to maintain Haredi autonomy and keep the walls intact, lives had to be sacrificed. Lives in the community, which even now is seeking shocking rates of new cases, as well as the lives of other Israelis. Throughout this past year, over and over, even after the gravity of the pandemic was made clear, many Ashkenazi Haredi leaders opted to pay that price. Those choices have considerable support among the Haredim themselves. Polls show that throughout the crisis, the only people who were trusted by the Haredim to handle it were the rabbis.  

The polarization between Haredim and the rest of Israeli society is expressive of a much deeper divide. Integrating Haredim into the economy and other aspects of Israeli life is vital if the country's society, values, and economy are to flourish. If the Haredim continue to shut themselves off from the rest of us, it will be disastrous. Experience teaches us that the only thing that has caused Haredim to integrate into mainstream society to any extent is an economic policy that does not support the Haredi lifestyle. At the same time, even with the Haredi community, there are forces that seek integration and change, and they could also have an influence.

To turn things around, we need a determined political leadership. In the upcoming election, rather than focusing on the question of "yes" or "no" to Netanyahu, anyone who aspires to lead Israel must make it clear to us, the Israelis, who they intend to approach this challenge. 

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According to the new figures, some 9,136,000 people live in Israel as of 2019, of whom 6,772,000 (or 74%) are classified as Jews by the government. Another 418,000 (2%) are people who made aliyah through the Law of Return, although they are counted separately because they are not listed as Jews on official government records.

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Arabs make up 21% (1,916,000) of the population.

Some 177,000 babies joined Israel's population in 2019. Some 74% of them were born to Jewish mothers and 23.2% to Arab mothers. In 2009, by comparison, 160,000 babies were born.

Meanwhile, the National Insurance Institute published its figures for 2018, showing that about 20% of Israelis, or 1,810,500 people, live in poverty, including over 840,000 minors.

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The figures, released by the Latet organization, which provides various welfare and food aid services, represent one-third of all children in the country, with an additional 1.3 million adults suffering from hunger.

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All in all, 2.3 million Israelis live in poverty, with 29.4% reporting weight loss due to an inability to afford food. At least 12% admitted to rummaging through garbage bins for meals.

Just over a quarter of Israelis (27.9%) counted in the study said that their children routinely go to school without lunch, marking a 16-point increase from last year.

The figures presented by Latet are gathered through interviews and public information.

The last time the government published statistics on poverty in Israel was in 2016. The numbers released that year indicated that some 1.8 million citizens, including 842,300 children, were living in poverty.

Among the 35 member nations of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), Israel is ranked as having the highest level of poverty.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

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It was easier for him to make ends meet at the height of his country's civil war, when rebels regularly lobbed mortars into Damascus from their strongholds on the outskirts of the city.

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In the past year, as the Trump administration tightened sanctions on Syria and re-imposed sanctions on its chief regional ally, Iran, living conditions have become steadily worse, compounding the daily struggles of a worn-out population that has lived through eight years of conflict.

"The economic sanctions are affecting the whole country," said Haji Abed, sitting behind the wheel of his car in an eastern Damascus neighborhood that until last year was a front-line with insurgents. "People can't take any more," added the gray-haired man in his late 50s.

Sanctions by the US, European Union and some Arab countries have been in place since 2011, after Syrian President Bashar Assad's security apparatus cracked down on protests against his rule. The sanctions targeted the oil industry, money transfers and a number of institutions and officials, including Assad.

The Trump administration has hiked up the punishment, particularly by moving to stop oil exports by Iran – including its shipments to its ally Syria. In November, the US Treasury Department added a network of Russian and Iranian companies to its blacklist for shipping oil to Syria and warned of "significant risks" for sanctions violators. In early July, a supertanker likely carrying around 2 million barrels of Iranian crude was detained in Gibraltar on suspicion of violating EU sanctions against oil shipments to Syria.

The results have hit hard on a population that has been traumatized by a civil war that has killed nearly half a million people, and displaced nearly half the population over the past eight years.

Once an oil exporter, Syria now relies on imports, and higher fuel costs caused by the sanctions have pushed up prices in nearly every sector. The currency lost a third of its value in 2019 alone, and now stands at 600 Syrian pounds to the dollar, compared to 47 at the onset of the conflict. Eight out of 10 Syrians live below the poverty line, making less than $100 a month, according to the UN.

Haji Abed says he makes 12,000 pounds ($20) a day, but after paying for fuel he is left with only about $5 a day. His rent is $35 a month. What's left after that is barely enough for food and other expenses, he said.

He used to be able to buy unlimited subsidized fuel. But since the new US sanctions, the government set a monthly cap – private car owners can buy 100 liters (26 gallons) a month, taxi drivers 350 liters (92 gallons). Those who want more must pay the market price, which is double.

The government says Syria's losses from sanctions are in the billions of dollars.

The ban on money transfers and other measures have particularly hurt medicine and pharmaceutical industries, a stinging loss for a country that once produced 90% of what its people needed. Syria now relies on imports of vaccines, medicines for cancer, blood derivatives and dialysis supplies.

This triggers sporadic shortages. "Three months ago, there was no baby formula available," said a pharmacist, Samir Aftimos. "People with children ran from one pharmacy to another to search for it." The crunch was relieved when Iran sent supplies.

Because of shipping restrictions, most medicine imports must be brought by land from Lebanon, increasing the cost, Assistant Health Minister Habib Abboud told The Associated Press. Companies have a hard time collecting or making payments abroad and several foreign medical companies that used to work in Syria are canceling their licenses, Abboud said. Syria is looking to firms in Russia, China, Iran and India to step in.

Around 25 of Syria's 70 medicine factories were destroyed or badly damaged during the conflict, Abboud said. He said many have been repaired as government forces regained large parts of Syria over the past three years. That has brought production nearly back up to pre-war levels, according to the Health Ministry.

One of the largest Syrian companies affected by the war is The Arabian Medical Co., or Thameco, whose factory in the eastern Damascus suburbs of Mleiha was taken by insurgents and heavily damaged during the war. The state-owned company now works out of a Damascus building that used to be a storage space, where dozens of employees produce painkillers, antibiotics and other medicines.

But it is difficult to obtain raw materials and spare parts, said Thameco's general manager, Fidaa Ali. "Most foreign companies complied with the conspiracy of the economic sanctions and the imposed embargo on Syria," he said.

EU and US sanctions also target hundreds of entities and individuals, many of them businessmen close to Assad's leadership. Washington adds names to the list each year. The most recent, added in June, was businessman Samer Foz and his family, and their Aman Holding company. Washington accused Foz of making a fortune by developing lands confiscated from Syrians who fled the country.

Fares Shehabi, a lawmaker and prominent industrialist, calls EU sanctions on him "unfair" and says they have cost him millions of dollars.

"No one can claim not to have been affected by the sanctions. It is not only the people who are under sanctions like myself," said Shehabi, who is based in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and once its commercial center.

Tayseer Darkalt, who owns a factory in Aleppo producing machines that make potato chips, says that because of sanctions he can't import or export products or spare parts. With no money transfers, he travels abroad to collect payments in cash, but that adds airplane and hotel costs. And he's wary of carrying a lot of cash.

"The sanctions are harming normal citizens. They are not punishing the government. They are punishing us."

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