The Haredi Cities Association Forum has filed a petition with the High Court seeking a conditional order against the Government Advertising Bureau, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Finance and other government ministries, claiming that vital information related to the corona virus does not reach the Haredi sector. It was also claimed that only 3% of the information budget is directed to the ultra-Orthodox sector, even though 42% of all corona patients in the State of Israel are ultra-Orthodox.
The mayor of Beitar Illit and the chairman of the Haredi Cities Forum, Ephraim Meir Rubinstein, petitioned the High Court yesterday, through attorneys Dr. Shlomo Ness, Yaron Tikotsky and Matan Hemo from the firm of Doron, Tikotsky, Kantor, Gutman, Ness, Amit Gross & Co. The petition sought to order the issuance of a conditional order to the state to explain why advertising budgets are not allocated equally, according to the relative share of each of the segments of the population that make up Israeli society – and no less important: according to the effective and relevant measures for each sector.
Checkpoints in ultra-Orthodox localities. Photo: Eitan Elhadz / TPS
According to them, the transfer of information to the ultra-Orthodox sector is currently a matter of “going out of duty.” “According to the report of the Knesset Research and Information Center and a special report prepared by the research body of Yifat Communications, it can be seen that there is complete inequality in exposure to the ultra-Orthodox public – since on average over the past three years the publication is only 3%. Is more than four times, about 13%, “the petition claims. It was further claimed: “The data from the studies show that advertising in the ultra-Orthodox sector was minimal in relation to all advertising in the population, the duration of advertising was significantly shorter than advertising in the general public and rose to very late exposure.”
The Ministry of Health stated: “Apart from the budgets of the Government Advertising Bureau, the Ministry of Health invests budgets in a wide range of information activities. In addition, the ministry operates a dedicated information staff for the ultra-Orthodox public. Some information activities have a great effect and volume. In 2020, the advertising expenses for the ultra-Orthodox public amounted to about NIS 14 million. “
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