Posted on 05/08/25
| News Source: Chaim V'Chessed
Jerusalem, Israel - May 8, 2025 - Chaim V’Chessed has taken steps to address a critical gap in the newly launched Tzedek Tachburati transportation discount program, recently unveiled by Israel’s Ministry of Transportation.
The innovative program offers significant public transportation discounts based on a traveler’s place of residence, helping ease the financial burden on individuals living in various geographic and socio-economic areas across the country. However, the eligibility mechanism for the program presents an obstacle for a unique segment of the population: residents of Israel who are not Israeli citizens.
The current system verifies residency through the sefach – the address printed on a teudat zehut (Israeli ID card), which non-citizens do not possess. As such, although they are eligible according to the regulations, they currently have no way to prove their residency and access the discounts.
Chaim V’Chessed’s team of experts reviewed the official government regulations behind the program and discovered a key point: the language of the law refers to the eligibility of a nosea – a traveler – without making any distinction between citizens and non-citizen residents. This understanding clearly supports the inclusion of non-citizen residents in the program.
In a formal appeal to Deputy Minister of Transportation Rabbi Uri Maklev, Chaim V’Chessed outlined this discrepancy and proposed a series of practical solutions. These include accepting alternate forms of address verification, such as:
Chaim V’Chessed commended the Ministry for the Tzedek Tachburati program, noting the positive impact it is already having on a broad range of the population. At the same time, the organization emphasized the urgency of ensuring that non-citizen residents – such as foreign students, families of olim, and long-term visa holders — are not inadvertently excluded from the program’s benefits.
At the present time, at Maklev’s behest, Ministry of Transportation officials are studying the solutions proposed by Chaim V’Chessed. As always, Chaim V’Chessed remains committed to advocating on behalf of the English-speaking community in Israel and ensuring equitable access to vital public services.
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Free translation:
9 Iyar 5785
May 6, 2025
To:
Deputy Minister Rabbi Uri Maklev
Ministry of Transportation
Jerusalem
Subject: The "Tzedek Transportation" Program – The Need to Include Benefits for Non-Citizen Residents
Dear Rabbi Maklev,
We would like to express our deep appreciation for the launch of the "Tzedek Transportation" program – an important and welcome initiative that provides public transportation discounts based on socioeconomic status. The program is a vital financial benefit for economically disadvantaged families and helps ensure accessibility to essential services.
However, we have encountered a significant issue in the program’s eligibility criteria: the administrative version states that only Israeli citizens who meet the criteria are entitled to the benefit. As a result, residents of the country who are not citizens are excluded, despite the fact that the law, as stated explicitly in the Knesset protocols and as clarified in correspondence from the legal advisor to the Welfare Committee, refers to "residents of Israel who are not citizens" — those who live here permanently and pay taxes, even if they are not yet Israeli citizens.
We ask for your assistance in urgently finding a solution that would allow non-citizen residents to benefit from this program. Among the options we propose:
Presenting the regulations to the Knesset to include non-citizen residents.
Clarification from the Ministry of Transportation/legal advisor that non-citizen residents are included under the program’s intended population.
We thank you for your ongoing efforts on behalf of the public in Israel and are confident that a solution to this issue will be found quickly.
Sincerely,
Pesach Freedman
CEO