Interior Minister Eli Yishai is moving ahead with steps that may result in a NIS 5 million annual budget for Zaka.

In his letter to fellow cabinet ministers, Yishai writes that since the organization was established 20 years ago, its volunteers have become a familiar site at the scene of terror attacks and accidents, with the men in their reflective green vests and white jumpsuits tending to those who are no longer capable of taking care of themselves, making sure they are given the respect they are entitled to receive, bringing them to proper kvura.

The minister added that the nation witnessed the organization’s leader Yehuda Meshi-Zahav lighting a Yom HaAtzma’ut torch, an act that had double meaning, as the head of the rescue organization as well as a symbol of the bridge between the chareidi community and the mainstream populace, calling on his colleagues to support his bid to allocate an annual budget to permit the organization to continue operating.

Yishai also cited the organization’s other endeavors, including courses, search & rescue, scooter response teams, divers and canine units.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)