On Sept. 30, the end of Yom Kippur, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued one of the most cynical messages he has ever posted on Facebook. In it, he said he wanted to bless the “agreements reached with the organizations of the disabled” and noted that this is a “historic agreement that will bring about a dramatic improvement in the situation of the handicapped in Israel.” He made sure, of course, to take credit and also praised Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and the Knesset members who worked on formulating the agreement, which is supposed to correct a 15-year-long wrong in providing pensions for the disabled in Israel.
Netanyahu has no reason to feel proud. As finance minister in 2003, he led in terminating the policy linking pensions for the disabled to the average market wage within the framework of economic austerity measures he imposed on recipients of government welfare as part of his economic plan to stabilize the market. The determined finance minister hurt not only the disabled, but also the elderly, Holocaust survivors and, in cutting child allowances, the ultra-Orthodox.
