A Passover photo-op debate in Israel

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Every day on WorldNow, we choose a striking photo from around the world. Today our eye was drawn to this shot of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man wheeling potatoes through Jerusalem.

The Jewish holiday of Passover begins Friday night, commemorating the Jewish exodus from ancient Egypt. Israeli charities provide potatoes to people in need ahead of the holiday, which exhorts Jews to declare at their festive meal, ‘Let all who are hungry come and eat.’

Israel’s social affairs minister, Moshe Kahlon, criticized charities in his country for making the donations into a photo op, arguing that the nonprofits should give secretly, Haaretz reported Tuesday. One of the nonprofits, Latet, fired back that the government isn’t doing enough to help the poor.

The nonprofit ‘commits to shutting down its food distribution activities as soon as the Social Affairs Ministry takes responsibility for the matter,’ Latet director Eran Weintrob was quoted as saying in Haaretz.

Besides the debate over charity, some Israelis believe the Passover holiday is also playing a part in national politics: Israeli media speculated that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked the military to postpone evicting Jewish settlers from the West Bank city of Hebron to avoid having soldiers and settlers clash just before the holiday, the Associated Press reported.

Spot a remarkable photo from around the globe? Please tweet it to us @latimesworld.

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-- Emily Alpert in Los Angeles