Social Groups Launch Campaign to Expose and Reduce High Food Prices in Israel
On August 17, 2025, several social organizations launched the "Most Expensive Price Competition" at Tel Aviv's Carmel Market to highlight and combat the rising cost of living, particularly food prices. The campaign, initiated by the Network for a Life with Dignity at the Centers for Social Justice, the Forum for the Fight Against Poverty, MAZON - A Jewish Response to Hunger, and others, aims to pressure Knesset candidates to commit to lowering food costs.
The competition invites shoppers nationwide to photograph prices of meal components in major supermarket chains every two days. The participant who identifies the highest total meal price will win the products and cinema tickets. These price photos will be sent directly to Knesset candidates as part of a demand for concrete commitments to reduce prices.
The campaign outlines four key demands: allocating a dedicated 250 million shekels budget for food security, decentralizing food market concentration, ensuring affordable healthy food baskets, and increasing social service investments to Western country averages. This initiative responds to alarming data from the National Insurance Institute's 2024 Food Security Report, which found that 27.1% of Israeli households (about 968,000 families) suffer from food insecurity, with 10% facing severe insecurity. Additionally, a recent Consumer Authority survey revealed that 69% of Israelis avoid buying healthy food due to high costs.
Yoni Belsberg, director of the Network for a Life with Dignity, emphasized the urgency: "Food prices have become a severe burden on everyone. No child in Israel should go hungry." Becky Cohen Keshet from the Forum for the Fight Against Poverty stressed that candidates must provide measurable, explicit plans to ensure all families can afford basic food, warning that silence will be interpreted as a refusal to act.
The campaign marks a direct civic effort to hold politicians accountable ahead of upcoming elections, demanding tangible action against food price inflation and food insecurity in Israel.
