28-03-2024 07:48 PM Jerusalem Timing

"Zionist Economy more Close to Collapse than Iran’s"

Some Three-quarters of the Zionists in the occupied territories see social and economic collapse in the entity as more of a threat than Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

Zionists protest against social and economic situation (archive)Some Three-quarters of the Zionists in the occupied territories see social and economic collapse in the entity as more of a threat than Iran's disputed nuclear program, a poll revealed on Monday.

In its Alternative Poverty Report for 2012, the Zionist food charity group Latet -- Hebrew for "to give" -- said poverty and social inequality were the main concerns of most the Zionists, followed by education, with national security only in third place, Agence France Presse reported.

"Seventy-five percent of the general public believes that a socio-economic crash threatens Israel more than the Iranian threat," said a summary of the report, which did not give numbers polled or a margin of error for its figures.

Published on Sunday, it comes ahead of a January 22 general election in the usurping entity, which fears arch foe Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, although Tehran insists its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.

According to AFP, the report said half of the children at homes receiving welfare were obliged to work to help boost income, up from 19 percent last year, and 10 percent resorted to begging on the streets, compared with three percent a year earlier.

More than half of respondents said they had been forced to buy less food this year because of their financial situation, with 15 percent working in more than one job and 18 percent in debt to their bank.

"This report provides evidence that poverty and social inequality have become permanent features of the Israeli landscape," Latet president Gilles Darmon told AFP on Monday.

"We cannot say that it is a temporary phenomenon as it is has existed for over 10 years now."

However, in its latest report on the Zionist entity published in April 2012, the International Monetary Fund said despite its growth rate – recorded for 2013 and 2014 as 3.5 percent and 3.9 percent respectively - the country had one of the highest rates of poverty out of the OECD's 35 member states.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said the entity’s high poverty rate was largely due to exceptional unemployment among the so-called Arab Israelis and ultra-Orthodox Jews.