Disabled Block Traffic in Tel Aviv to Press Demands

YERUSHALAYIM
israel disabled protest
Disabled people and activists block the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv as they in protest calling for better benefits, Sunday. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Disabled protesters and activists blocked traffic in Tel Aviv on Sunday to demand higher state benefits for disabled and the elderly, The Times of Israel reported.

Dozens of protesters demonstrated at the city’s Ayalon Highway, a major artery, during morning rush hour.

The protesters are calling for government stipends to be increased to NIS 5,300 ($1,500) so that they match the minimum wage. They say the government has reneged on an agreement to do so, a long-standing demand of the disabled.

The Knesset in February 2018 raised the monthly sum to NIS 3,700 ($1,050).

The government has until early November to pass a state budget, and it is hoped that such pressure will force the coalition to respond before then.

“As long as the demands are not met, we will continue to demonstrate with all our might,” the protest group said in a statement.

 

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