Dear Fred Weston,
Further to my previous letter, Letter from Israel - the terrible plight of Israeli pensioners, I would like to add more details. I now have the full story regarding that woman. Up till the end of last year the person in question was getting 2000 shekels (NIS) a month plus 650 NIS, that is a third of the total rent for the flat that she shares with two other people.
The woman is blind in one eye due to cancer. After the yearly review of her disability before a medical board (this is compulsory for new invalid immigrants) her pension was halved and the rent payment was withdrawn, even though her disability had increased.
Since the beginning of the New Year the woman had not received a penny. My wife managed to get National Insurance to back pay the January and February pensions 2000 NIS in total, but the rent for the next three months is due at the end of this month. So once again the woman will be left with next to nothing. Plus the woman fell down last week and broke her arm in three places, so she can't even cook for herself. Some kind neighbours (not Russians) are looking after that aspect of her troubles.
I don't involve my self too much in my wife's activities, because I am depressed enough from what I see in general regarding what this country has become, and I have enough on my plate with my children's problems. My wife is someone who the harder people and life try to put her down, the stronger she gets. But now with her blindness even she is taking less upon herself.
Regards,
Mordechai Peargut in Israel