Minister of Senior Citizen Affairs Uri Orbach is convinced that even if the ministry that he heads is considered the least appealing now, within just two decades, it will become one of the government's most coveted ministries. In fact, he says it will undergo the same process that the Ministry of Environmental Protection experienced.

“The scope of handling the issue of senior citizens in modern society is dramatic,” he said in an interview with Al-Monitor. “The elderly population will grow significantly in the future, and that has economic implications. There will be a disaster here, if we don’t take care of the problem now. People won’t be able to live off their pensions.”

A former journalist and author, Orbach, 54, of the HaBayit HaYehudi Party, can take some satisfaction from a current poll by television’s Knesset Channel. Some 70% of all respondents knew that he heads the Ministry of Senior Citizen Affairs. To a large degree, this impressive result can be attributed to various projects he initiated to boost the elderly population as both citizens and consumers. The crown jewel of this campaign is a successful initiative with the cute name, “Suspenders Tuesdays,” in which senior citizens receive all sorts of benefits and discounts at cafes, restaurants and theaters.

Al-Monitor:  “Suspender Tuesdays” is a cute idea, but many seniors in Israel are among the country’s poorest population.