Disabled 'panthers' resume protests and block railroad traffic
"The disgraceful raise that we received this year leaves us below the poverty line and sentences the disabled people to starvation...," said Naomi Moravia.
By YVETTE J. DEANEUpdated: JULY 25, 2018 03:3315 handicapped demonstrators stopped. railroad traffic (photo credit: DISABLED BECOME PANTHERS)
“The disgraceful raise that we received this year leaves us below the poverty line and sentences the disabled people to starvation,” said Naomi Moravia.Demanding an immediate raise in the monthly allowance given to people with disabilities, a group of 15 activists representing the disabled community blocked trains for 30 minutes on the Tel Aviv-Haifa railroad line on Tuesday.The group is demanding the government raise the allocation for people with a 100 percent disability to the current minimum wage of NIS 5,300 per month.Naomi Moravia, chairman of the Campaign for the Disabled Struggle, penned a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Labor and Social Services Minister Haim Katz, chairman of the National Economic Council Avi Simhon, MK Eli Alaluf – chair of the Knesset Labor and Social Affairs Committee, and other Knesset members stating: “The disgraceful raise that we received this year leaves us below the poverty line and sentences disabled people to starvation. We are being forced to choose between medicine and a morsel (of food).”Moravia called on Katz to “raise the allowance to NIS 5,300 a month immediately.”This protest follows on the heels of nation-wide protests that took place in 2017.For nearly a year, hundreds of protestors representing the disabled community blocked major traffic arteries throughout the country demanding a raise in their monthly allowances from NIS 2,342 to NIS 5,000.In February, the Knesset passed a bill for a NIS 4.34 billion increase in disability allotments with the intention of raising the monthly allowance for the completely disabled to the minimum wage. However, according to protesters, this has yet to be activated.Lahav Harkov and Lidar Gravé-Lazi contributed to this report.
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