MKs call for action to fight poverty in IDF ranks

Following the publication of a letter from Israel Defense Forces conscripts to IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz detailing their economic hardship, MKs from both sides of the aisle called for action to address the problem.

Communications Minister Gilad Erdan appealed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the issue at the next cabinet meeting.

“Dozens of warriors who took part in fighting during operations ‘Protective Edge’ and ‘Brother’s Keeper’ find themselves in a very difficult economic situation, as they are unable to help their families and are afraid that they and their parents will not have the means to buy food for the upcoming [Jewish New Year],” he wrote.

“As a cabinet minister, minister in the government and citizen of Israel, I also share the gratitude to the brave IDF soldiers who prove their dedication time and again on the front line facing the threats and security challenges of the state of Israel,” he added. “Unfortunately, despite this, the gratitude and appreciation we all express to the soldiers is not reflected in the provision of IDF soldiers’ basic needs.”

IDF conscripts earn a very small stipend, from approximately $100 a month to $300, while the army is required to provide basic needs, such as uniforms and food, for the duration of their service.

Erdan also noted that the situation, in which “30 percent of conscripts in the army today are defined as ‘poor'” has a significant impact on the living standards of families who have to support their children even after they’ve left the house.

Meanwhile, Likud MK Miri Regev asked Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to transfer supplemental income to soldiers who incurred losses while fighting in Gaza; and Labor MK Eitan Cabel urged MK Omer Bar-Lev, head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s human resources subcommittee, to convene an urgent session.

“Soldiers who risked their lives cannot become charity cases,” Cabel said.

The letter, sent anonymously by dozens of combat soldiers and passed to political leaders through Israeli nonprofit A Warm Home for Every Soldier, was first published Wednesday. In it, the soldiers lamented that many could not afford food for the holidays and had to either work during their off-base leave, or take out loans from the bank in order to cover their living costs.

“Many of us fought in Protective Edge, and when the fighting ended, our struggle to survive began,” they wrote. “Many of us found that while they were risking their lives, their bank account was closed and now they can’t even take out 50 shekels. We need your immediate help.”

The authors said that they did not sign the letter because they were embarrassed to identify themselves and their families, and because they feared they could be punished for bypassing the chain of command to bring their plight to light.

“I went out [during my break] and I didn’t have money for a single cigarette, I really don’t have anything,” one of the letter’s signatories told Channel 2 on condition of anonymity. “I hope that now [Gantz] will wake up — that somebody will just do something.”

Another signatory said that he hopes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “will get to the root of this profound problem.

“We serve the state, work for the state and on our vacations we go to work. Even in North Korea this doesn’t happen,” he added. “Our united appeal shows how big the problem is.”