The World Sephardi Federation bas urged Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinowitz to take immediate measures to counteract the ill effects of the Israel government’s new economic austerity measures on “low-income families of Israel who in great part are of Oriental background and origin.” That plea was contained In cables grant to Rabin and Rabinowitz by Nessim Gaon, president of the World Sephardi Federation.
He referred specifically to “the devaluation of the Israeli currency accompanied by the drastic rise in prices of staple articles as well as other deflationary measures adopted by your government (which) will affect primarily the low-income families and worsen still more their social and economic situation already at a low ebb before these new measures came into force.”
Gaon suggested as one form of relief “guaranteeing subsidies in realistic proportions to the low income class of the population to enable them to meet the enormous rise in cost of living, of staple articles and essential foodstuffs.” Haim Eliachar, chairman of the board of the American Sephardi Federation, said he supported Gaon’s appeal. He noted, however, that the drastic measures taken by the Israeli government were necessary to avert economic disaster.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
