Following Shomrim Investigation: Israel to Terminate Food Voucher Program Over Unequal Distribution

In its response to the High Court this week, the state announced that the Interior Ministry’s food voucher program will no longer operate in its current format and will be transferred to the Welfare Ministry. Under the new format, the program will also remove a controversial criterion used to determine eligibility for the vouchers – some 18 months after a Shomrim exposé revealed that it disproportionately benefited the ultra-Orthodox community. A Shomrim Impact

September 25, 2024

Two Years After Shomrim’s Investigation: Ministry of Education to Provide Hot Meals for 17,000 At-Risk Children in 125 High Schools

The Ministry of Education has decided to expand its nutritional security program to include "last-chance high schools" that serve at-risk youth. Previously, the program was limited to 25 schools within the Arab community, where thousands of students face food insecurity without a comprehensive state-provided solution. The annual cost of this expansion is estimated at 80 million shekels ($20 million), according to a Shomrim report.

September 16, 2024

Cracks, Sabotage and Human Error: Five Years of Safety Incidents on the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline

Thousands of liters of crude oil have leaked from the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline since 2019, according to documents obtained by Shomrim through a freedom-of-information request. While it seems that the company’s regulations provide a satisfactory response to incidents inside its facilities when leaks happen at more remote locations, it’s a very different story – and the potential harm to the environment is much greater. Now, the government wants to significantly increase the amount of oil that flows through the pipeline. In response, the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company said: ‘We meet the most stringent standards.’ A Shomrim exposé

August 28, 2024

International Investigation: Iran Used Criminals and Drug Dealers in Europe to Target Israelis and Jews

A terror cell recently arrested in France was orchestrated by an international drug deal from Lyon and its members included people previously convicted of conspiracy to murder. The cell’s mission was to assassinate Israelis living in France and senior members of the Jewish community in Germany – as well as arson attacks on properties belonging to Israeli-owned companies. A joint investigation conducted by Shomrim and the European Investigative Collaborations organization reveals how Iran operated terror cells on European soil using figures from the criminal underworld. 

September 5, 2024

Follow-Up: State Prosecutor Says his Office Will Work to Crack Down on Police Launching Rogue Probes into ‘Speech Crimes’

A recent Shomrim investigation revealed that police have been arresting Arab citizens for online comments without charging them with incitement. This tactic allows police to bypass the need for special permission from the state prosecutor to open an investigation, as such approval is rarely granted. Last week, the state prosecutor announced that his office is considering changing its directive to the police. A Shomrim follow-up.

July 18, 2024

"I No Longer Believe We're Living in a Democracy. We're Being Muzzled"

The figures are unequivocal: Since the terror attack on October 7, freedom of speech in Israel has become a privilege reserved for Jews alone. Under the guise of war, the number of indictments for speech crimes has skyrocketed, and hundreds of Arab citizens have been arrested for incitement to terrorism for making critical comments—some of which do not even meet the threshold of criminality. In some instances, the police have bypassed the state prosecution's oversight of sensitive investigations. A Shomrim investigation.

June 25, 2024

Secret Agents, Secret Discounts: How the Mossad Broke the Law to Benefit Retired Agents

For years, the Mossad ignored requests from the National Insurance Institute (NII) to deduct full payments from its former agents, as required by law. The value of these payments could reach tens of thousands of shekels for each retired agent. In 2021, when the Mossad began to comply, retirees launched a campaign, and the Mossad director even met with the head of the NII. The Mossad's response: "We obey the law." A Shomrim exposé, in cooperation with Calcalist

June 5, 2024

Exposed: Israel Police Gathering Information on the Sexual Orientation of Detained Citizens

February 20, 2024

With Food in Their Stomachs, At-Risk Israeli Students Get a Chance to Break the Cycle of Hunger

For tens of thousands of students in Israel, hunger is an everyday occurrence. As Shomrim revealed last year, the state takes no responsibility for their nutritional welfare the moment they leave primary education – and many of them drop out. But there is another way: thanks to the five-year plan for the Arab community, which came into effect last year, at-risk students at 25 high schools get a hot meal and a second chance. We can only hope that this is just the beginning. A Shomrim follow-up

June 28, 2023

Rights Groups Threaten High Court Petition If Israeli Government Refuses to Amend Food-Vouchers Criteria

Earlier this year, a Shomrim investigation revealed that the criteria set by the government for receiving food vouchers benefited primarily the ultra-Orthodox community – at the expense of other vulnerable communities. The findings of that report were subsequently confirmed by a series of state bodies, including the Finance Ministry and the National Council for Food Security. Nonetheless, the Interior Ministry still plans on distributing more food vouchers according to these discriminatory criteria

June 18, 2023

The African Job: International Leak Suggests Corruption in Arms Deal between an Israeli Company and Ugandan Air Force

BIRD Aerosystems, partly owned by Israel’s largest private equity firm, sold air defense systems to Uganda. The deal was completed via a British company owned by Israeli arms dealer Boaz Badihi, who was also connected to two other firms involved in the deal. The compliance division of the German company that supplied some of the components was suspicious that ‘illicit measures were taken to influence decision-makers.’ It demanded a more thorough investigation – that was never completed. A Shomrim investigation. Published also in “The Times of Israel”

May 27, 2023

Finance Ministry Confirms: Food-voucher Plan Skewed Aid Toward Ultra-Orthodox, at the Expense of Other Vulnerable Communities

Last month, Shomrim revealed how the first round of Aryeh Deri’s food vouchers was distributed. Now, a document written by the treasury’s Budget Department confirms these findings and argues that the criterion for receiving the assistance skewed distribution in favor of ultra-Orthodox households and vehemently opposes the continuation of the plan. A Shomrim follow-up

May 14, 2023

Deri's Food Vouchers Favored the Ultra-Orthodox Over Other Vulnerable Communities

In the Ultra-Orthodox town of Modi’in Illit, residents got an average of 530 shekels. In the Bedouin regional conuil Neveh Midbar in the Negev – just 14 shekels apiece. Former Interior Minister Aryeh Deri’s food voucher initiative distributed 700 million shekels ($200 million) to needy citizens. An analysis of the data – made available only after a freedom-of-information request – shows that the Ultra-Orthodox got significantly more of the money than other vulnerable communities. Deri declined to comment on this article. A Shomrim investigation, published in conjunction with Calcalist

April 3, 2023

Foster Parents to Foreign Children Don’t Understand Why the Children are Taken Away Without Warning

The testimonies keep repeating themselves: A foreign child lives for years with an Israeli foster family, and then, after the case is transferred to Tel Aviv Municipality’s Mesila unit, something changes. Suddenly, the authorities want to get the child back with the biological mother as quickly as possible, even if nothing has changed regarding her ability to raise him. Along the way, the foster families claim, there are lies, dismissive attitudes, and a lack of concern for the children’s welfare. A joint investigation by Shomrim and Haaretz newspaper

March 5, 2023

The Red City: A Journey to Israel’s Murder Capital

With almost 70 homicides in a decade, most of which remain unsolved, Lod is Israel’s most dangerous and bloody city. Over the past few months, Shomrim has been out and about in the city • Between crime scenes and a police force that is helpless • Between victims’ families and reconciliation committees • Between kids with guns and women who have been abandoned to their fate • In Lod, it seems, even a utility bill or a kids’ soccer game can become the cause of a bloody feud. This project is published in cooperation with “Seven Days”, Yedioth Ahronoth’s weekend supplement

March 10, 2023

Statusless in Israel: What Can a 19-Year-Old Do if the State Refuses Her Health Insurance?

As long as they are under 18, the state provides health insurance for statusless people in Israel. But what happens on the day that they become legal adults? They are left with no access to medicine or healthcare, even when this could put their lives at risk. The same is true for people who are not candidates for deportation, and even those who were once under the wings of the welfare authorities. According to estimates, the number of people in Israel with no medical insurance is expected to skyrocket. A Shomrim follow-up

December 22, 2022

Sandwich Children: Teachers and Schools are Forced to Deal Alone with Student Hunger

Israel could easily solve the problem of hungry children at a negligible cost, but instead, the state opts to leave the issue to NGOs and independent initiatives by teachers and schools. Part two of ‘Bottom of the Food Chain,’ a special Shomrim project: There are solutions, and some of them are already showing positive results

October 20, 2022

Bottom of the Food Chain: Hundreds of Thousands of Israeli Kids Go Hungry at School

More than 660,000 Israeli children suffer from food insecurity, and around half are hungry. The only hot meal many of them get is at school, but the Education Ministry’s feeding program is only for children in primary schools. The food disappears as soon as a child is in seventh grade, and the implications, including violence and attrition, can be severe. The first in a two-part project, published in collaboration with Musaf Calcalist: A journey to the last-chance highs schools that are forced deal with the education system’s rumbling stomach

October 20, 2022

Police Searches in the Cloud: Israel Worried about International Incidents – But Bid Nothing to Prevent Them

Police forces worldwide have encountered a new problem in recent years: Information on suspects’ cellular devices is stored on overseas cloud servers – ostensibly out of reach of local search warrants. A case currently being heard in an Israeli courtroom, however, reveals that local legal authorities were aware of the problem but, despite concerns over harming foreign relations, created a method of bypassing the law and allowing these searches to go ahead – even though it’s in violation of an international charter signed by dozens of countries. Israel is not alone: Only a handful of countries have passed relevant legislation. A Shomrim report

October 4, 2022

Health Ministry Backtracks and Admits That Long-Term Use of Opioids Always Causes Physical Addiction

Shomrim continues to update readers on Israel’s opioid plague. During a High Court hearing this week, the Health Ministry stated unequivocally for the first time that the long-term use of opioid painkillers always leads to physical addiction. The ministry also said it would consider more aggressive health warnings on painkillers

August 2, 2022

Speech Crime in Israel: 43 Incitement Charges in Two Years – Most Against Arabs

A freedom of information request submitted by Shomrim reveals the numbers behind one of the most sensitive crimes in any democratic regime. Only three of the indictments filed in Israel for the crime of incitement were not nationalist in nature: two were directed at Netanyahu’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the other was for comments aimed at judges. A senior prosecutor explains: The gulf between Jews and Arabs is because there are more banned Palestinian terror groups and because the so-called ‘hilltop youth’ does not use social media. A Shomrim exposé

August 1, 2022

No State, No Status: The Israeli-Born Kids Who Aren't Citizens of Any Country

Tens of thousands of children born in Israel are growing up without an identity card. They receive welfare services and education, but officially they hardly exist. Even those who are wards of the state and who live in boarding schools or foster families remain transparent, and, once they become adults, they are left to their own devices. "I don't have an ID card, so I certainly can't get a passport. It's even harder for me to find a job," says 20-year-old Roni. A special Shomrim report

June 30, 2022

Health Ministry Admits Failure to Contain the Use of Addictive Painkillers

Shomrim reveals how the Health Ministry issued new directives to hospitals and HMOs regarding the regulation and restriction of opioid use. In an internal document, the ministry confirmed the findings of a series of investigative reports by Shomrim, which highlighted the sharp rise in the number of users, the length of time they took opioids, and the dosage. In response, the ministry said: “This is only a draft. The circular has been sent out for comments and corrections and we are waiting to get feedback from the field. If needed, we will issue even clearer guidelines.”

April 25, 2022

Any small currency change can turn Israel into an oligarch’s refuge

Russian private jets have filled the tarmac at Ben-Gurion Airport, huge sums of money are looking for a way to get here – and Israeli law, for the most part, doesn’t have the answers. By law, an account in Israel can only be frozen if it is linked to terrorism or the Iranian nuclear program. Experts warn that banks may be obeying American sanctions and helping Israel avoid international embarrassment, but one small change that would allow money to be transferred from Russia could alter the whole picture. A Shomrim report.

March 3, 2022

“We’ve got reports about specific attempts to lure female refugees from Ukraine into prostitution.”

An official from the human trafficking authority tells Shomrim that “there has also been a spike in online demand for what’s referred to as ‘new Ukrainian women.’” The National Anti-Trafficking Coordination Unit is unsurprised by the phenomenon and says that, in the coming days, it plans to set up information kiosks for female refugees arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport. “We’re thinking on our feet,” says Attorney Dina Dominitz, the unit director. A Shomrim report.

March 16, 2022

The right to be forgotten in Israel: Indictments are easy to find on Google. Less so acquittals or dropped charges

The story of Benny is a perfect example of the absurdity of implementing the principle of publicizing legal proceedings. The indictment filed against him is open to the public and, as a result, it appears in Google when searching for his name. This has had profound ramifications for his work and his private life. However, the withdrawal of that indictment is not in the public domain and does not come up in any internet search. A special committee established to find a solution never completed its work. And that’s not all: a law that would have shortened the period that a criminal record for minor crimes from 17 years to four, to help rehabilitate offenders, is not being implemented. Transparency, memory and justice – a Shomrim report.

February 9, 2022

One nation, under surveillance: How Israel’s trigger-happy courts went wiretap crazy

One week after Calcalist revealed that NSO’s Pegasus malware had been deployed on the cellphones of Israeli citizens, data obtained by Shomrim shines a light on almost three million classified police files – and reveals the vast extent to which the Israel Police uses wiretaps. In 2020, police filed 3,692 requests for a wiretap. Only 26 were rejected by the court. In addition to wiretapping, when one adds to that the number of search warrants police requests – warrants that allow them to infiltrate suspects’ computers and which are often handed out ex parte by a magistrate’s court – the number leaps to 65,000 requests a year, almost all of which are approved. In the United States and the United Kingdom, those figures are significantly lower. Are the courts overseeing, or are they a rubber stamp? A special Shomrim report.

January 27, 2022

Prescription free-for-all: When cannabis is supervised but opioids aren’t

The spread of the opioid pandemic in Israel could have been prevented – or at least mitigated – almost 20 years ago, by introducing a computerized system to thwart unregulated use of prescriptions. A Health Ministry committee unanimously recommended it, the Knesset debated it several times and the government even found the budget to fund it. But the project never came into being and even today, in 2022, there’s no supervision of opioid prescriptions. The Justice Ministry says that the problem lies with personal privacy, but still manages to operate a similar system for the supervision of over 100,000 registered cannabis users. So, what’s the difference? The third part in a series of Shomrim investigations into the opioid crisis.

January 24, 2022

What happens when a hospital wants to buy an MRI scanner on the public’s dime?

The answer is that waits for approval for over three years. Just like in the case of the PET-CT scanners that Shomrim covered in a previous investigation, Israel lags far behind other OECD countries when it comes to MRI scanners. The reason is not lack of funding, but a government policy to limit spending on healthcare and to scale back expensive tests. As a result, patients are being scheduled for tests in the middle of the night and must wait months for an appointment. When one delves deeper into the picture, one finds – yet again – that those in remote communities have it worst. A Shomrim follow-up.

January 5, 2022

The opioid crisis: ‘In 2021, no one can claim that these drugs aren’t addictive’

Despite all the revelations in the United States about the opioid epidemic – and the role played by Purdue Pharma – there are people in Israel who are marketing them with the claim that use will only lead to addiction in 1 percent of cases. In the second part of Shomrim’s ‘The Prescription Plague’ series, we turn to the drug companies and examine their relationship with the medical establishment. But is asking them “like asking a cat what it thinks about eating mice”? Their response: “Drug companies have no intention or ability to sway the opinion of medical researchers.”

December 10, 2021

The illegal garbage plaguing Israel’s moshavim: “It’s crazy how they’re contaminating our land”

Residents of the Jerusalem Hills can hardly believe their eyes when they see how their streams and agricultural lands are being flooded by a combination of construction waste and filthy soil from building sites. Anyone who dares to complain is met with a violent response and the fines imposed on contractors are a drop in the ocean. Even the Environmental Protection Ministry admits that it’s helpless. “It’s like the destruction of the Temple,” says Itzik, a resident of Kfar Uria, as he points to a huge mound of dirt that is blocking the flow of a stream – and under which has been buried polluting construction material. “It’s like the Wild West here,” says moshavnik Tal. A Shomrim investigation.

January 11, 2022

The prescription plague: One in 10 Israelis in danger of opioid addiction

Three years ago, the Health Ministry set up a special committee to regulate the prescription of opioids. That was an understated response to a deadly plague that has shattered American society, seen otherwise normative people become addicted to painkillers prescribed by their family doctor – and half a million deaths. According to official figures, one in every 10 Israelis takes some form of opioid – but that does not take into account what is happening on the black market. Shomrim reveals the protocols of the Health Ministry’s Opioid Committee. Part 1 in a series.

December 12, 2021

What happens when a worker in a government office peeps at the personal files of his daughter’s friends in the Scouts?

The answer is very little. The various branches of the government – the Tax Authority, National Insurance Institute, the police, the Defense Ministry, the health system, and many others – hold large amounts of data about every single Israeli citizen. From time to time, an employee of one of these officers will take a surreptitious look at some of these personal files. In most cases, they are not caught, and, on the rare occasion when they are, the punishment is remarkably lenient. Officials from the Privacy Protection Authority say that there’s nothing they can do to counter the phenomenon.

November 16, 2021

Official EAPC document: it was a miracle that oil didn’t leak into Haifa

Shomrim reveals: Some three years ago, the EAPC discovered that a section of its oil pipeline – close to the sea and 200 meters from a residential area in Haifa – was damaged. The damage was caused, it seems, by infrastructure work that the EAPC wasn’t involved in. The company’s chief engineer said it was “a miracle” that the line wasn’t ruptured, which would have led to an ecological catastrophe. He made the same claim in court. Nonetheless, the company now claims that there was no danger posed to the environment.

August 12, 2021

Before the Zin disaster: more than 240,000 liters of oil seeped into the Negev and the public was kept in the dark

Six months before the EAPC’s serious ecological disaster at the Zin Stream, and four years after the Evrona incident, there was another oil leak near the IDF’s Shizafon base. An investigation by Shomrim reveals that 100 tons of contaminate earth was removed the site – but the public didn’t hear a single word about it. Between Zin and Evrona, there was almost another catastrophic oil leak. The EAPC’s response: We reported it to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and we are committed to protecting natural resources. The EAPC scandal, the second in a series.

August 3, 2021

It took EAPC more than 7 years to remove millions of liters of oil from a 60-year old pipeline it once referred to as “a ticking time bomb”

A Shomrim investigation reveals that a section of pipeline containing 7.5 million liters of jet fuel and diesel has been left untouched for years – despite the clear danger of a horrific ecological disaster. The reason: a legal battle over the value of the oil. Another section of the same pipeline is also full of fuel and the Environmental Protection Ministry is demanding it be emptied immediately. In the past two months, following a deal with a company from the UAE, the Eilat-Ashkelon Pipeline Company claims that it adheres to stringent standards and cares about the environment. But does it?

July 27, 2021

The writing was on the wall: Another oil leak from the Ashkelon-Haifa pipeline

Last week, there was another leak in the Ashkelon-Haifa pipeline and 800 tons of contaminated earth have already been removed from the site. Two Mekorot facilities have been shut down until the impact on water quality can be assessed. Unlike previous ecological disasters, this one does not appear to have an external cause. “It’s a very serious incident,” said the environment minister, after the company that owns the pipeline called it “a leak with a small quantity of oil.”

August 30, 2021