As President of AMIT, I make an effort to understand the broader trends impacting Israeli society and their specific effect on children. Over the past year and a half, we saw firsthand the economic and educational dislocation caused by COVID-19. We coordinated support with Israel’s Welfare Ministry and even responded with our own emergency campaign, distributing food and other basic necessities. We provided state-of-the-art educational support, computers, and WIFI, to as many students as we could. But private organizations, as good as they are, simply cannot replace the government’s responsibility to take care of its citizens.
As the new government works to finalize a budget, I wrote this opinion piece published in The Jerusalem Post. In it, I emphasize the need for new policy initiatives and substantial funding to address the systemic weaknesses impacting Israel’s vulnerable families and children. AMIT’s tagline is “Building Israel. One child at a Time.” It’s time for the government to make that same commitment.
