Israel’s Bleeding Us Dry, and the Government’s Nowhere to Be Found

Israelis are being robbed blind every time they step into a supermarket, and the government is sitting on its hands.

Three years ago, fresh ground beef for patties cost 30 shekels a kilo; now it’s 60 to 80 shekels, a price that’s doubled or nearly tripled, Merav Crystal reports. Butter that was 7 shekels in 2021? Try 14 shekels and up. A Cow Chocolate bar, once a steal at 5 shekels, won’t be found under 8 shekels unless you catch a rare sale, and if you’re craving Lindt, brace for 25 shekels for just 100 grams.

Four major food and consumer goods companies just announced price hikes for thousands of products, piling on after raising prices by tens of percent over the past two years. And the Ministries of Finance and Economy? Silent. The Competition Authority? Not a peep.

Retail chains aren’t fighting these hikes; they’re cheering suppliers on to jack up prices at competitors, leaving Israeli families struggling to survive on budgets stretched to the breaking point.

This is outright theft. Dairy desserts hit 7 shekels when they should be 3 or 4, cottage cheese is inching toward 8 shekels, and yellow cheeses, even with imports, somehow cost more every year. Regulated staples like standard bread, milk, and eggs creep higher, and fruits and vegetables, despite “normal” fluctuations, aren’t the deal they seem.

Beyond the supermarket, it’s a nightmare: a popsicle for the kids costs 10 shekels, up from 1 to 4 shekels two years ago. A small sandwich at a café runs 23 shekels, a small cappuccino is 14 to 16 shekels, and a breakfast out won’t dip below 70 shekels.

McDonald’s hikes prices twice a year, Wolt inflates delivery fees, and movie tickets and popcorn jump every six months. Fuel’s pricier, a bus ride’s up from 6 to 8 shekels, and good luck finding a car under 100,000 shekels. Clothing, pharmacy chains, even attractions: everything’s soaring. Want a robotic vacuum cleaner, the latest must-have? That’ll be 3,000 to 6,000 shekels. Every supermarket receipt looks like a billing error, but it’s not a mistake; it’s our reality.

The government could put a stop to this. Back when it cared, it stepped in to slash ground beef prices. Now, the Ministries of Finance and Economy are asleep, cozying up to importers and hoping the “market will do its thing.”

Spoiler: the market’s doing its thing, alright, posting glitzy financial reports and pocketing fat dividends while we’re forced to choose between groceries and rent.

The state could subsidize basic products, demand companies justify price hikes, scrutinize their profits, or ban major suppliers from raising prices more than once every two years or beyond a set percentage. It could dent this so-called “free market” to let families breathe.

Instead, it’s abandoned the cost of living, leaving us to fend for ourselves against corporate greed. Global cocoa prices are up, sure, and we’re at war, but that’s no excuse for manufacturers and importers to lose all shame, charging 25 shekels for a tiny chocolate bar while the government yawns.

Retailers and suppliers play us for fools, slashing prices on a handful of items for holidays, luring us to fill carts with overpriced goods, only to hit us with a massive bill at checkout. Remember 2011, when we flooded the streets, shook the retailers, and made them think twice about price hikes for a decade? That fire’s gone. We’ve let them strip away our power, and they know they can hike prices without fear. Five items for 100 shekels used to shock us; now it’s the norm, even at the “cheapest” discount chains.

Israel’s fighting for survival against enemies on every border, but the war at home, against runaway prices, is being lost because our leaders won’t act. Israeli families deserve better than this betrayal. As always, it hits those least equipped to deal with it.

The government must wake up, rein in these corporate giants, and cap prices before we’re priced out of our own land. And we, the consumers, need to stop chasing scraps and demand real change.

Ynet contributed to this article.