Fridman was born and raised in Pinsk, Belarus. In 1990, at the age of two, he immigrated to Israel with his family. As a child, he had serious health problems, and in 1996 was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy which was SMA type 2. Over the years, it has led to the paralysis of almost his full body. In 2000, due to further deterioration in the medical situation, he was forced to leave the regular educational framework and began to take lessons in his home. In those years, when he was bedridden, he began to study screen writing. In 2011, after two successful works which were published, he was invited to work with the Israeli Viva channel and created the blog novel The Final Trap.[1][2]
Social activity
Establishment of Disabled, Not Half a Human Being
In 2015, Fridman began a campaign, under the slogan Disabled, Not Half a Human Being, to raise the disability pension in Israel, one of the lowest in OECD countries.[3] The campaign found support from some celebrities,[4] and led Fridman to initiate a rally in Rabin Square with the participation of dozens of different artists.[5][6] The campaign went viral.
In December 2015, MK Ilan Gilon proposed a bill for a disability pension at the Minimum Wage level, but the proposal did not pass.[7]
In April 2016, Fridman founded the Disabled, Not Half a Human Being association, which champions a nonpolitical struggle to equalize disability benefits and to promote additional rights for people with disabilities in Israel.[9]
Amending the Laron Law
In August 2016, following negotiations with the Finance Ministry and a protracted struggle, the government decided to allocate 300 million ILS for the purpose of increasing disability allowances and amending the Laron Law.[10][11] The move drew criticism among disabled people, who claimed that the discrimination discriminates between those with different degrees of disability and is not significant. Fridman welcomed the move, saying that this indicated a change in the government's approach to the handicaps of disabled people, but expressed reservations about the decision to allocate significantly lower amounts than expected. As a protest, Fridman initiated the Millionaires' Parade, a protest march that took place inside the Azrieli Mall in Tel Aviv,[12][non-primary source needed] and then blocked the nearby Menachem Begin Junction with other activists.
The cooperation between Fridman and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and his team continued in order to promote the establishment of a professional committee to discuss the situation of the disabled in Israel. In December 2016, Fridman met with Yaron Zelekha and convinced him to volunteer for his organization and to provide professional economic advice.[13] A month later, in January 2017, Fridman met with Kahlon, and suggested that Zelekha, who was familiar with the issue of allowances from his past position as the Accountant General, would submit conclusions on the subject.[14] On August 2, 2017, Fridman and his organization together with other disabled people demonstrated outside the home of Bitan, claiming that he had not kept his promise.[15] Fridman's organization held demonstrations, blocking roads throughout the country. In one of them, the demonstrators were prevented from demonstrating at a political conference organized by the prime minister in Ashdod, five protesters arrested, and police reported that demonstrators had taken violence against the police and threatened to set themselves on fire. The demonstrators claimed that the police used unreasonable force. Fridman expressed his condemnation of all violence, especially against the disabled demonstrators.[16][17]
Supreme Court efforts
Fridman has also sought to raise disability allowances in the legal arena through a petition to the High Court of Justice against the Knesset and the government, which was submitted in cooperation with the Roof Organization of the disabled (which included some 30 organizations), and retired judges of the District Court, Tzipora Baron and Bracha Ofir-Tom.[18] In response, the Knesset's legal department asked the court to reject the petition because "the disabled did not prove that it was impossible to live off their pension, which stands at 2,342 ILS".[19] On June 18, 2018, chief justice Esther Hayut cancelled the petition in the High Court. She adjudicated that the disability pension had already been raised by legislation, and the petition should be corrected due to this raise.[20]
Raising the disability pension
On September 5, 2017, the chairman of the Histadrut, Avi Nissenkorn, met with Fridman and representatives of other disability organizations as well as heads of actions and of the big unions, and declared their support for the outline of Professor Zelikha with a budget of 4 billion ILS. On September 28, 2017, Nissenkorn, MKs Ilan Gilon and David Bitan, Avi Simhon, Fridman and several other disabled representatives gathered for a meeting that lasted more than 12 hours, and presented an outline, based on Zelekha's outline, with two significant changes: an addition of 150 million ILS to 50,000 disabled children and a linkage to the average wage in the economy. At the end of the meeting, a compromise agreement was reached within the framework of a budget of 4.2 billion ILS.[21]
After months in which the government delayed the enactment of the agreement, Fridman announced on January 11, 2018, that protests would be renewed.[22] Fridman and 34 leading social organizations signed a letter to Kahlon with the title "Expect net actions", with a requirement to pass the law.[23] On February 12, 2018, the law passed the second and third readings in a budgetary framework of 4.34 ;billion ILS and entered the law book in Israel.[24][25] At the end of March 2018, after many protests, the disability pension was raised from 2,342 to 3,272 ILS a month.[26]
A film about Alex Fridman, displaying the headline: "100% Disability = 2,342 ILS in a month" upon Moshe Kahlon's face, 2018.
In June 2018, three students of Ort Shapira high school[31] in Kfar Saba made a documentary film about Fridman as their matriculation work.[32] The film was directed by May Moran and described Fridman's childhood and advocacy in the Knesset. The film ended by showing the vote in the Knesset in February 2018. Moran was shown towards the end of the film, sitting alongside Fridman in a group photo.
On December 31, 2018, Fridman said that he would run for the twenty-first Knesset.[33][34] On February 19, 2019, Fridman joined Yisrael Beiteinu as the 12th member in its list of candidates.[35] The party won five seats.
^"נכה לא חצי בן אדם, ע"ר" [Disabled, Not Half a Human Being, a registered voluntary association]. guidestar (in Hebrew). Retrieved June 9, 2019.
^"מתווה להקצאת 300 מיליון ש"ח למקבלי קצבאות נכות" [An outline for the allocation of 300 million ILS to recipients of disability pensions]. National Insurance Institute of Israel (in Hebrew). Retrieved June 9, 2019.
^"העלאת קצבאות הנכות" [Increase of disability pensions]. National Insurance Institute of Israel (in Hebrew). Retrieved June 9, 2019.
^The website system (October 29, 2024). "מחאת הנכים מתחדשת" [Disabled people renews]. Myavne.co.il (in Hebrew). Retrieved November 28, 2024. Alex Friedman, a founder and chairman of Disabled, Not Half a Human Being: "The Minister of Finance leaves us no choice. He is taking advantage of the fact that these are sensitive days, in which we mourn our fallen heroes every day, and of course the danger of our public going out to the street and being caught in a barrage of missiles without being able to take a shelter. At the same time, the possibility of being left without basic food in the refrigerator is no less difficult. Therefore, if necessary, we will fight with full force, even at the cost of risking our lives".
^Hadar Gil-Ad (October 31, 2024). "גזר דין מוות לאנשים עם מוגבלות: מחאת הנכים מתחדשת, על רקע קיצוצי התקציב" [Death sentence for people with disabilities: Protest by disabled people renews, amid budget cuts]. Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved November 28, 2024. Alex Friedman, a founder and chairman of the Disabled, Not Half a Human Being organization, said ahead of the government meeting to approve the state budget: "I call on the Minister of Finance to come to his senses. Freezing disability benefits during wartime and the rising cost of living, combined with the VAT increase and other decrees – are a death sentence for the disabled public".
^Commission for Equal Rights of Persons with Disabilities (November 4, 2024). "בוטלה הקפאת קצבאות הנכים שתוכננה ל-2025" [The freeze of the disability allowances planned for 2025 has been canceled]. Ministry of Justice (in Hebrew). Retrieved November 28, 2024.
