The heads of four non-governmental organizations that operate the National Service notified Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and the minister in charge of National Service, Daniel Hershkowitz (Jewish Home), that starting October 21, all National Service activities in the welfare and education systems will be stopped.
Minister Hershkowitz said in response: “I intend to ask the Prime Minister to intervene personally in the crisis and to ensure that the necessary budget is transferred immediately, thus saving the National Service.”
The reason for the present crisis is that the Ministry of Education has not received the NIS 45 million budget which it needs in order to fund the activities and cover the expenses of over 3,000 National Service volunteers, who serve in various capacities as an alternative to military service.
The four NGOs – The Associaton for Volunteerism, Shlomit, Aminadav and Bat Ami, stressed that the National Service has never faced such a serious crisis, and that it needs to struggle just to receive the bare minimum that will enable the volunteers' activity.
The groups stated that already, volunteers are feeling the pinch because they have not received the “pocket money” that they deserve, according to the law.
In addition, they said, stopping the activity will hurt the weakest parts of Israeli society and cause severe damage to the education and welfare system – especially in the field of special education, where National Service volunteers serve with endless devotion.
A similar crisis occurred during the term of the Olmert government, they wrote, and was solved when Olmert intervened personally.