There is no question about it. The idea is that since there are no (or almost no) Leviim Muchzakim they cannot sue for it and giving it to them isn't 100% the mitzvah... But there is no downside to giving it other than money.
A. Not living in EY, I'm not well versed in
hilchos maasros. What I gather from this discussion is that although halachically consumers are
yotze/food is kosher to eat because the
Eida did
hafrasha, the fact that they don't distribute the
maaser is principally wrong? Or is it actually a violation of halacha?
The merchants sell it
B. Now, who gets the maaser? Are you saying they do hafrasha and just put the maaser right back into the pile with the rest of the produce?
C. Are there other hechsherim that play this monkey business too?
Because they publicly demonstrate how little they care about it.
Politics and demonstrations aside, can you elaborate?