# Are people in Israel starving? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 3, 2016, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005 "2016-04-03T00:09:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005/21 "2016-04-06T18:06:37Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > Oh come on, many liberals donate to charities for relief abroad. Are they too OK with Americans going hungry? The criticism is that many conservatives actively support CUTTING food benefits for hungry Americans while donating to charities abroad. Do you have examples of liberals calling for cutting benefits domestically? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005/22 "2016-04-06T19:44:57Z")
> [@slash2k](#): > > The criticism is that many conservatives actively support CUTTING food benefits for hungry Americans while donating to charities abroad. Do you have examples of liberals calling for cutting benefits domestically? Apples and oranges. One is private charity and the other is government spending. Many conservatives view those two things quite differently. Unless those conservatives who favor domestic cutbacks are urging the Israeli government to spend more money on food for the poor, then there isn’t any hypocrisy. One generally should not hold one political side to the standards of the other, because they start from different assumptions. Works both ways. ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005/23 "2016-04-06T21:34:08Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Leaders may not like hearing about it, but there are people going hungry at least some of the time in many if not all first world countries. > > I see public appeals from our local food bank (which we donate to), and food banks are busy elsewhere in the U.S. and [European](http://www.bbc.com/news/business-27032642) [Union](http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/german-food-banks-and-soup-kitchens-struggle-with-demand-a-941661.html), as well as [Israel](http://www.leket.org). I am of course well aware that some people go hungry just about everywhere. Our local food bank does direct mail appeals and I think (but am not certain) I may have seen a billboard or two asking for donations. But I don’t remember any other television commercial asking for donations specifically for food. Disaster relief, sure. General requests for donations, you bet. But give money to send a food box to a hungry family in a specified area, no. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005/24 "2016-04-06T23:32:32Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Our local food bank does direct mail appeals and I think (but am not certain) I may have seen a billboard or two asking for donations. But I don’t remember any other television commercial asking for donations specifically for food. TV appears to be [a means of advertising food banks](http://www.ispot.tv/ad/7704/food-bank-for-new-york-city-feat-stanley-tucci-mario-batali) in [some](http://www.ispot.tv/brands/I55/community-food-bank-of-new-jersey) [areas](http://sheehy1.com/portfolio-item/dare-care-food-bank-feed-your-neighbor-campaign/) of the U.S… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-people-in-israel-starving/751005.md?page=1)