Yehimovich: Netanyahu blamed for poverty in Israel

Following Tuesday's publication of a startling official report on poverty and social gaps in Israel, Israeli parliament member Shelly Yehimovich who formerly served as her party's head said Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's policies were to blame.

"Poverty is not an act of fate, it is not a natural disaster, this is a direct result of government policy," Yehimovich said on a Channel 10 News morning show Wednesday.

"Israel's employment rate is high, much higher than the unemployment rate. The problem here is not that people do not work. The problem is that people are working from morning to night and saving almost nothing," she added.

"Netanyahu began implementing his views in 2003 when he served as Minister of Finance. He really believed in his actions then. Today, too, he really believes that if the rich get more and more, sometime, someday, it will seep down into the middle class. It's just not true," Yehimovich stressed.