In response to media events held on Tuesday 27 Shevat by the ministers of finance, health, education and welfare in which they addressed nutrition for children in Israel, Yosef Cohen, who heads the Chasdei Naomi organization, called on the ministers to “stop talking and begin doing something!”
Speaking at a Beersheva press conference, Finance Minister Yair Lapid, Welfare Minister Meir Cohen, Education Minister Rabbi Shai Piron and Health Minister Yael German addressed a program to guarantee nutritious meals for children. The program is being supported by the ministries mentioned in the hope of helping children from homes assisted by state welfare agencies. The program carries a 230 million NIS annual price tag.
Cohen points out that Chasdei Naomi and other similar organizations work day and night to bring basic necessities to the needy, boasting some 20,000 volunteers. Hundreds of tons of food are handled weekly by Chasdei Naomi trucks and yet the organization is collapsing under the strain of the growing number of requests for assistance. Cohen feels “it is a disgrace that good people are doing the work of the finance ministry. Farmers are donating along with food manufacturers and thousands of volunteers and drivers are working tirelessly while those who should be doing this are busy speaking to the media.
“I am calling on government cabinet ministers to stop with the lofty talk and begin doing something. Come to us and see for yourselves what a day in our organization looks like. See a day for a full truck heading out to distribute food to those in need”.
Cohen added that from the statistics he sees day in and day out, the situation is far worse than the picture painted by government officials.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Lapid’s solution is for either the hareidim should give up on Yiddishkeit and become secular in return for money, or they should move to another country. Lapid has shown himself to be a man of very high principles and to be a man of action (unfortunately, when you are the target of ethnic cleansing, the last thing you want is an efficient hard working enemy).