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Trapped in Resistance: Collective Struggle Through Welfare Fraud in Israel

This paper offers a qualitative empirical examination of the noncompliance of Israeli female welfare recipients with welfare laws and authorities. The paper demonstrates that their behavior, defined as “welfare fraud” by the law, is a limited form of collective resistance to the Israeli welfare state. Although the acts of welfare fraud that the women in my study engaged in entail a political claim against the state, the relationship between these acts and notions of collectivity is very constricted in form. The women’s collectivity is shown to be constrained by the welfare authorities’ invasive and pervasive investigation practices and methods. Due to fear of disclosure to the authorities, the women emerged as deliberately isolating themselves from their immediate environment and potential members of their like-situated collective. This weakens the connection between the women’s acts of resistance and their collectivity, and prevents their acts of resistance from driving social change, trapping them in their harsh conditions and existence. I’ll work under the table all my life, even if I know I’ll be a millionaire. I’ll keep collecting welfare my whole life . . . I’ll do it because of the anger inside of me . . . due to the injustice, their stupid rules, for making us slaves to their criteria. (Nitza, Israeli female welfare recipient) Nitza, a single mother, is 33 years old with three young children. She has been living on welfare for several years, since the birth of her first child. Before becoming a mother, she had worked consistently. The father of her children comes and goes. Although he has tried to help with child support, his financial situation has deteriorated over time, and he too is on welfare. Nitza takes any work she can get, but never reports her income to the National Insurance Institute (NII) 1 even though she knows she is required to do so. She did not also notify the authorities when the father of her children