Rich divorced moms get 1,000 NIS per child, while most children suffering poverty get nothing at all. Opinion.

Every year, Israel's National Insurance institute offers financial incentives to divorced mothers in Israel.

This incentive is called a "school grant," and consists of 1,003 shekels deposited directly into the bank accounts of every parent listed as an "independent parent." The vast majority of these parents are divorced, separated, or single mothers.

There is no "entrance exam" in order to receive this grant. Any "independent parent" - including those who earn 40,000 or 80,000 shekels ($11,109-22,218) each month - is eligible to receive it.

This year, 93,200 families headed by an independent parent will receive this grant for 151,200 children. 18,400 large families with 70,800 children, all of whom receive a welfare stipend, will also receive the grant.

In other words, over two thirds (68%) of children whose parents receive this grant are children in single-parent households. The other third are children of large families who are suffering severe poverty. These families, however, will only receive the grant if they: a) have four or more children, and b) receive a welfare stipend from the National Insurance Institute.

For instance, a normal family with two married parents and three children ages 6-18, who live in poverty and receive a welfare stipend, will not receive the school grant - because there are three children, not four, in the family.

A family with five school-age children, who live in severe poverty but do not receive the welfare stipend, will also not receive the school grant.

One happily married woman, S., had five children and lived in severe poverty. The National Insurance Institute advised her to divorce, "so that she could receive money from the government."

A report by the "Hotam" organization about this policy declared that "in most parameters in which the benefits received by single-parent families examined, there is no logical explanation for why there is a preference for single-parent families over two-parent families."

Israel's policy for school grants is one of many examples of extreme leftist laws which slipped in under the radar of the Knesset members. Its purpose? To engineer society in a way that encourages divorce and single-parent families headed by women.