Since its founding in 1983 by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, the nonprofit International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has been building interfaith bridges and leveraging resources to aid Jews in need around the world.
IFCJ has become the largest interfaith organization of Christians and Jews in the world, raising more than $200 million per year (over $3.1 billion in total since its founding) from its hundreds of thousands of supporters and advocates.
From providing poverty assistance and security to promoting aliyah (immigration to Israel), IFCJ has positively impacted the lives of millions of Jews in Israel and beyond.
For Israeli citizens, in particular, this work is more important than ever. Wage disparities and ongoing salary crises are rendering more and more Israelis vulnerable to poverty.
Regional war and conflict are putting the lives and livelihoods of Jews at risk of disruption and destruction. Changes in government policy are not enough—community assistance and solidarity are needed.
Fortunately, IFCJ’s current President and CEO, Yael Eckstein, is taking steps to apply the nonprofit’s resources toward solving these problems. Eckstein oversees the nonprofit's various programs and serves as the international spokesperson for IFCJ, leveraging her decade of nonprofit experience to maximize the organization’s effectiveness.
Her leadership, recognized with awards, such as the Jerusalem Post’s 2023 Humanitarian Award, continues to make IFCJ a force for good in Israel and beyond.
Poverty In Israel
Israeli citizens are suffering from an ongoing poverty crisis as a result of both local and regional conflict and growing disparities in wages and salaries. Based on a December 2024 report from Latet, another Israeli nonprofit, over 3 million Israelis qualify for the terms of poverty, defined as a significant deprivation in relation to basic living needs and conditions. This number includes over 1,240,000 children—nearly 40% of the nation’s child population.
The realities of Israeli poverty are stark. Nearly 80% of government aid recipients report food insecurity, and over 62% report regularly skipping meals because they couldn’t afford them.
Half of parents suffering from poverty in Israel had to give up or reduce infant formula for their babies, compared to the 12% of the non-impoverished general population. With 22-29% of the Israeli population suffering from poverty, aid is critically needed.
Wealth Disparity and the Salary Crisis
The conservative amount of government assistance to struggling Israelis has not been enough to offset the ever-widening income gap between different classes of citizens, according to Latet’s report. The disparity in wages can be seen both between genders and income tiers, creating a compounding crisis where salaries cannot keep up with the growing cost of living. The problems of poverty ripple through every aspect of the affected people’s lives.
The gap between men’s and women’s wages ranges from 32-42%, according to the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, an already significant statistic before considering the intense polarization of the labor market.
Nearly 80% of the 500 richest people in Israel are billionaires, concentrating the nation’s wealth (and property) in the hands of very few while a quarter of the country starves. When the cost of living increased nearly 7% over the prior year—double the growth in the Consumer Price Index—this disparity in income directly leads to suffering.
Debt is, unsurprisingly, a crippling burden to Israelis suffering under the poverty line. Over 78% of impoverished households report outstanding loans, which is nearly triple the 26% of non-impoverished households in the general population.
When forced to choose between paying for meals or paying for home repairs, most families are choosing food—over 69% of the population cannot afford meaningful repairs. Energy is similarly rationed and unaffordable; over 84% of poverty-stricken households report energy shortages, and 22% have been disconnected entirely.
The Costs of War
The recent conflict that started in October 2023 directly contributed to the downward swing of the Israeli economy, exacerbating the existing poverty crisis to new levels and further reducing the government’s capacity and willingness to provide meaningful assistance.
The recall of nearly 300,000 reservists and the subsequent spike in conscription pulled critical manpower from the workforce, reducing the state’s economic capacity and instituting an increased drain on resources.
The Ministry of Finance reports the cost of each day of war, combining equipment, ammunition, and reservist salaries, rose as high as NIS one billion—without counting the indirect cost of those reservist’s lost economic output. The Bank of Israel and the Ministry of Finance both estimate the financial cost of the war on Gaza and Lebanon to reach or exceed 300 billion shekels.
As the Israeli military demands more and more resources for regional conflict, the average Israeli citizen is left further and further behind, as the economy slows to a crawl. Exports dropped by 8.1%, imports dropped by nearly 9.8%, real estate investment slowed by 16.9%, business GDP declined by 4.8%, and expected growth in 2023 and 2024 nearly halved.
Unemployment hovers around 3.6% despite the recruitment of thousands of reservists, but overall employment continues to decline year over year, with only 60.9% of people aged 15 and older reporting employment in 2024.
While the Israeli economy has not collapsed, it has been battered and bruised. The Israeli government’s refusal to raise taxes on companies and the wealthy, instead opting for traditional budget reductions and deficit raises to offset the costs, promises to maintain the status quo while the economy slowly recovers. These realities do nothing to provide meaningful assistance to Israeli citizens who struggle to secure food and electricity amidst a growing poverty crisis.
IFCJ Steps In
Latet’s report explicitly decries the lack of social aid policies of the Israeli government and ends by saying, “Solidarity and mutual responsibility will determine whether we emerge from this crisis stronger or weaker.” Where the Israeli government has been unable to provide meaningful assistance to its citizens in need, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is stepping in to fill the gaps.
President and CEO Yael Eckstein is acting quickly to leverage the organization’s resources toward alleviating poverty and helping Jews in need, in accordance with IFCJ’s mission statement.
“We answer the biblical call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide shelter to the poor (Isaiah 58:7) through on-the-ground, lifesaving care, food, and support for impoverished Jews, elderly, and Holocaust survivors.” — International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
Recent years have seen IFCJ’s strategy for maximizing the efficacy of its donations shift further and further toward poverty assistance. Fully 76% of every donation is dedicated to humanitarian care and aid, with 63% of that dedicated specifically to assistance programs providing food, shelter, and assistance to Jews in need. With over 800,000 people aided so far and thousands more receiving assistance every day, IFCJ is working hard to make their donations help as many people as possible.
President and CEO Yael Eckstein is specifically focused on investigating the causes of the Israeli poverty crisis. She hopes to leverage over a decade of nonprofit and thought leadership toward critical outreach and humanitarian aid, whether that be through political activism or direct, boots-on-the-ground support.