Former defense minister and IDF chief of staff MK (Kadima) Shaul Mofaz instructed Knesset officials to keep the last pay increase awarded to elected officials. Mofaz instructed them to pass the money to the relevant officials in the Defense Ministry to assist IDF soldiers. Mofaz calls on his colleagues to follow his lead. He is referring to a 1% salary increase beginning in January 2015, amounting to 1,000 monthly.

Mofaz explains ‘we mustn’t remain complacent today, during difficult times, remembering there are so many soldiers who cannot afford basic monthly needs. MKs who joined the initiative include; Elazar Stern (The Movement), Yisrael Chazon (Yesh Atid), and Moshe Mizrachi (Labor).

MKs Ofir Shelach (Yesh Atid), Yitzchak Herzog, Eitan Cabel, Arel Margalit, Itzik Shmueli (Labor), Amram Mitzne (The Movement) and Transportation Minister (Likud) Yisrael Katz announced that plan to join the initiative.

This is not the first time an MK called for not accepting a salary increase. In 2014 MK (Yesh Atid) Shimon Solomon called on voting to eliminate a planned increase but MKs would not hear of it.

Mofaz’s initiative follow’s harsh Supreme Court criticism of the military’s poor wages for soldiers in discussion surrounding efforts to raise the minimum salary of compulsory soldiers.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)