Approximately 800,000 Israelis in need will get an additional sum of NIS 750 to their bank accounts on Wednesday, as part of the 'Check for Every Citizen' program championed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz. The sum is added to the NIS 750 already given to each Israeli, making the sum NIS 1,500 in total. The groups who receive the extra benefit include the disabled, those who became disabled during their army service, Holocaust survivors, immigrants (olim) in need who arrived to the country in the past 12 months and those who are eligible for supplementary income from the National Insurance Institute (NII). The roughly 800,000 Israelis, who belong to these groups, received the payments to their bank accounts. On Wednesday eligible Israelis (above the age of 18) will start receiving their NIS 750 payments as well. The NII asked the very young, who may not have held jobs or are now in the IDF, to use its web portal to inform it of their bank accounts to get the money. “Even if we won't be able to wire the money to this or that person,” an NII official told The Jerusalem Post, “they can arrive at the Postal Bank and get the money in cash after they present an ID. “When we began this operation we lacked two million bank accounts,” the official said, “now we only lack 600,000, and every day this number decreases.” Netanyahu said the plan is meant to “get the wheels of the economy moving again” and Katz vowed that “every citizen who deserves this money will get it.” Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, Israel currently faces an unemployment rate of 21.6%, according to the unemployment service. Several industries, such as tourism, aviation and theater performances nearly collapsed overnight due to the health restrictions meant to curb the spread of the virus. Netanyahu's critics, such as Labor MK Merav Michaeli, called the 'Check for Every Citizen' plan “giving out candy” in an effort to quell public protests against a prime minister indicted of alleged corruption.
