Netanyahu announces stipends for all, urges Israelis to go out and spend

At a press conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces the government will distribute stipends to all Israelis. He says it is “a complementary step,” in addition to other aid packages, including stipends paid out this week to small businesses and independent businesspeople.

“The second wave, this wave, has already come. We are fighting it with determination, we are fighting it with unity,” he says.

“I hear your distress. You’re not alone,” he says.

All Israelis above 18 years of age will receive NIS 750, he announces.

Netanyahu says a family with one child will receive NIS 2,000, with two children NIS 2,500, and those with three children and more NIS 3,000.

“We must get the economy moving. People are sitting at home, they aren’t consuming,” he says, adding that these funds are to encourage more local consumerism.

He urges Israelis to buy domestically produced products, “blue and white,” to “get the wheels rolling.”

He urges Israeli politicians to quickly support the plan.

He says he’s sure the whole government will approve it, and hopes it won’t prove necessary to anchor it in new legislation, since that will take time. He wants to “quickly get it to all Israeli households,” he says. “If we start arguing about why, it will take longer — weeks, I hope not months… We’ll never get it done,” he adds.

“We need to get the wheels moving and make sure nobody falls between the cracks.”