Disability rights in Israel

As of 2017,[2] the struggle was made by demonstrations, blocking main roads, highways and industries, activity in social networking services, petitions to the High Court of Justice, negotiations with the Government of Israel and bills in the Knesset.

[15][16] On 7 December 2016, the Knesset approved in a preliminary reading, by a majority of 42 to 39, a law proposal, which had been submitted by MK Ilan Gilon to equalize the basic disability pension to the minimum wage.

[17] Some months earlier, MK Nava Boker also submitted on 28 February 2016, a bill to link the disability pension to the minimum wage.

[18] Boker's bill which received 82 signatures of Knesset members, was transferred to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, but was postponed several times.

[19] Following the discussion in the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, in mid-February 2017 the Minister of Finance Moshe Kahlon appointed Professor Yaron Zelekha, in cooperation with the "Necheh, Lo Hetzi Ben Adam" (Disabled, Not Half a Human Being) Association led by Alex Fridman, to the head of a special commission to examine raising disability payments.

[39] A week before the submission of the conclusions of the Simhon Committee, disabled representatives appealed to the High Court following the postponement of allowances increasing.

[48] Toward the end of September 2017, Naomi Moravia, chairwoman of the "Israeli Human Rights Organization of People with Disabilities", which was located in the Histadrut building in Tel Aviv, asked for Nissenkorn assistance in opposition to the government.

[57][58] On 3 October 2017, the members of "The Disabled Panthers" and "The A-team" blocked two entrances to the Port of Ashdod from six in the morning for five hours, causing heavy financial damage.

[66][67] On 17 October 2017, disabled people gathered at a gas station near the Latrun Interchange, and from there they drove slowly on Highway 1 to Jerusalem, causing heavy traffic.

Nicole Raidman arrived and caused a media storm when she gave 2,000 ILS to Hanna Akiva from "The Disabled Panthers".

[76] On 5 November 2017, members of "the Disabled Panthers" blocked the entrances and exits at the Haifa Oil Refineries for four and a half hours.

[87][non-primary source needed] On 25 November 2017, the Welfare Minister of Israel Haim Katz announced a bill on his behalf that would be placed on the Government's table.

The "Israeli Human Rights Organization of People with Disabilities" responded to Katz's bill, and rejected the non-linkage to the Average Wage in Israel, the lowering of the total amount from 4.2 billion ILS to less than 2 billion ILS, the absence of further increase of the Disregard in 2019, and the absence of further increase of the disability pension.

[88][89][non-primary source needed] On 5 December 2017, at a meeting of the Labor, Welfare and Health Committee in the Knesset, which was headed by MK Eli Alaluf on the bill submitted by MK Gilon,[90][91] a fight broke out between Arik Harari, who opposed the Histadrut's outline, and Ofer Buchnik[30] of the "Israeli Human Rights Organization of People with Disabilities".

MK Abd al-Hakim Hajj Yahya of the Joint List said that disability pensions are a commitment of the state towards its citizens, and the budget of 4.2 billion ILS is not something sacred.

[95] On 20 December 2017, the Knesset approved unanimously in a preliminary vote the bill submitted by MK Mickey Rosenthal supported by Welfare Minister Katz, which would increase the allowance to 4,300 ILS in a gradual process.

[112] The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs told the media that the situation in which the money that was supposed to guarantee the future of the allowances and of the National Insurance Institute, served the current state budget – could not continue.

In a reaction, MK Itzik Shmuli said that over the years, the Finance Ministry robbed more than 220 billion ILS from the National Insurance Institute funds.

[113][114][115][116][117][118][non-primary source needed] On 24 October 2018, there was a repeated vote in the Knesset on the law proposal of MK Gilon to equalize the disability allowance to the minimum wage.

[122][non-primary source needed] On 8 January 2018, Ravit Ben Baruch, a disabled leader, addressed Simhon in her video in Facebook, and told him: "What did you come to tell me?

Moreover, I have never earned a minimum wage, so I paid every month very good taxes, assuming naively that it was okay to cut me like it, because it went to families who needed it, but it has not been done.

[130][non-primary source needed] When a reader, whose name was Eitan Sharon, asked if Kahlon also studied Business administration for burying the disabled people's rights, Ben Baruch replied that four years of her life were wasted in the university, because she could learn better during half a year from her father, who managed a business.

[134][non-primary source needed] On 22 January 2018, the "Israeli Human Rights Organization of People with Disabilities" returned and blocked the entrances to the Israel Aerospace Industries,[135] and the port of Ashdod.

[137] The sums set did not meet the requirements of disabled people, but were accepted lawfully by the Knesset plenum on the night of 12–13 February.

As a result, Yonathan Tadmor held a demonstration at the Government Compound in Tel Aviv on 31 May 2018, requesting a Minimum Wage for the Disabled and Elderly people.

[146][non-primary source needed] On 4 June 2018, the Disabled Panthers met with Yehuda Doron at the Clalit Health Services Headquarters in Tel Aviv, after the passing away of the Disabled Panther Raanan Kerklies, which had demonstrated against Clalit, demanding a full refund for an ambulance after a dialysis, which he received four times a week.

[147][148][non-primary source needed] After the meeting, the Disabled Panthers went down and blocked the head intersection of Arlosorov and Ibn Gabirol streets in Tel Aviv.

Disabled people blocked also the National Square near the Supreme Court, the Light Rail[157][non-primary source needed] and the traffic by the Chords Bridge.

[158][non-primary source needed] At 3:25 pm, Ravit Ben Baruch in a white shirt, Hannah Kim, a publicist and a mother of two children with autism, in a black dress, Yael Nitzav with a backpack, and Yaffa Friedman, came in the Knesset and wanted to submit a diploma of disgrace[159] to the Minister of Communications Ayoob Kara and to the rest of the 119 MKs, but a security man forcibly seized the diplomas,[160][non-primary source needed] banned the entry credentials of the four ladies and deported them out of the Knesset.

[169][170][171][172] The police distributed bottles of water to the disabled demonstrators, who protested from 4:00 p.m. until 8:20 pm, and were filmed and interviewed by all the Israeli television channels, more than once.