Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, heads the largest philanthropic group in Israel. He does not hesitate to answer when asked what he would say to Israel's prime minister, following the publication of the state comptroller's report on April 7, on the government's continuing failure to promote nutritional security.
“I would tell [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] Bibi that he should be worried politically,” said Eckstein in an interview with Al-Monitor. “If he doesn’t bring about a change, there will be huge demonstrations in the street, just as there were in Venezuela, for example. Either that or [former Welfare Minister Moshe] Kahlon will take over the leadership, because people in Israel want social justice. They are sick of committees and promises. The poor are getting poorer, and in the end, the young people will all flee the country. I speak to Bibi every so often, and I think he realizes that. But enough talking. Something has to be done. There were demonstrations three years ago, and what did Bibi do? He formed the Trachtenberg Committee.”
Eckstein, a US-born Orthodox rabbi, founded the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews in the United States 31 years ago. Its goal was to build bridges between Judaism and Christianity. He immigrated to Israel 13 years ago, when he was 50, and opened the fellowship’s offices there at the same time. Over the past decade, while the state distanced itself from its welfare obligations and commitments to the poor, Eckstein gave generously.
The interview with Eckstein took place just a few days after the state comptroller’s report was released and a few days before the traditional seder meal on the first night of Passover. The report highlights the lax attitude and, ultimately, the failure of a government that prides itself on leading one of the strongest economies in the world. Nevertheless, the government ignores the indignities faced by elderly Holocaust survivors, who live in dire poverty and can barely get by.
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