Academics and NGOs Urge Political Leaders to Address Food Insecurity

Twenty-eight prominent academics and heads of organizations have penned an open letter to Israeli political party leaders, urging them to revive a national food security plan that has been stalled for over a year and a half. The initiative, led by the National Council for Food Security chairman Professor Asher Elhayani and the Forum to Combat Poverty, calls on parties to commit to implementing the council's recommendations ahead of the upcoming elections.

According to 2024 National Insurance Institute data, 27.1% of Israelis experience food insecurity, with 9.9% facing severe insecurity, often leading to skipped meals. This translates to 963,000 households unable to afford healthy food due to budget constraints. The signatories are demanding a dedicated annual budget of at least NIS 300 million for the national food security project within the Ministry of Welfare, to be integrated into the ministry's core budget and increase year-on-year.

The proposed plan, originally presented in March 2025, was shelved after the then-Minister of Welfare, Yaakov Margi, resigned shortly after its submission. The signatories also advocate for making the Health Ministry's healthy food basket accessible to the general population, not just aid recipients, through measures like price controls, reduced VAT on basic healthy items, and direct subsidies where necessary. They also propose expanding school nutrition programs to middle schools and reducing the local authorities' share in funding for lower socio-economic clusters.

Further recommendations include government funding for local food security programs, a national food waste reduction initiative, and establishing a permanent system for monitoring, reporting, and researching food insecurity levels across different risk groups. Professor Elhayani stated that the council, established by law to advise the government, provided a data-driven, budgeted, and feasible plan that remains unimplemented. He emphasized that food insecurity is a solvable professional issue, not a political one, noting Israel's high rates of both food waste and food insecurity in Europe.

Advocate Beki Cohen Kashi from the Forum to Combat Poverty added that the state commissioned a plan and then ignored it. The forum is seeking written commitments from candidates on each specific point of the plan, rather than general statements of support.