Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich ignored an appeal from National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi to release the NIS 200 million earmarked for the Arab sector, citing national security concerns.
The money, which was passed by the previous government and a continuation of funding from the previous Netanyahu government, seeks to address the issue of a lack of education in the Arab sector.
Hanegbi’s message included a security recommendation that shows that an increase of education in east Jerusalem has led to a reduction of terrorism in the city. As a result, he said, Smotrich should release the funds.
Smotrich’s decision to withhold funds was also pushed back on by Interior Minister Moshe Arbel (Shas), who sent a letter to the finance minister, asking him to release the funds for fear of causing damage to the budget.
Arbel wrote that “These days, when the balance and development grant budgets are supposed to be distributed to the local authorities, I call on you to allow the release of the budgets for the Arab local authorities as well. This is a total of NIS 200 million for the current budget and another NIS 100 million for the development grants and economic development projects for the Arab authorities.”
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is seen at a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in Jerusalem, on July 19, 2023. (credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)Why did Bezalel Smotrich freeze funds for Israel’s Arab authorities?
In a comment to The Jerusalem Post published on Monday in response to Arbel, Smotrich’s office said that “This is a coalition demand of Mansour Abbas and the giving of Ayelet Shaked to Mansour Abbas.
“These funds are frozen until there is an inspection and oversight mechanisms in place.”
His office added in a statement to the public on Monday that “the Arab authorities receive the grant designed to help weaken authorities just like any other authority in the State of Israel and based on equal criteria. There isn’t and has never been any justification in the world to favor the Arab authorities even more and give only them a special grant that the weak authorities in the Jewish sector do not receive, apart from a political demand by Abbas who wanted to make political capital on the state budget and bribe his voters in the Arab sector.”
In response, Ra’am head Mansour Abbas said that “this is a test for the government” and “the Arab authorities are one of the weak points of Arab society, they are weak and almost do not function without additional support from the government.
“Without this money, we will feel it directly. Waste removal and the ability to provide services to the Arab communities, 130 communities. This will lead to the collapse of the local authorities. They want to return to the saga in which the central government manages the local government?”
Pointing a finger directly at Smotrich, Abbas said ”We have a finance minister who does not care about this population, is not interested in him and he allows himself to freeze it.”
The report follows what KAN reported on Sunday evening, that Smotrich also blocked funds for a preparatory course by Hebrew University in Jerusalem. According to Smotrich, the integration of east Jerusalem residents has led to an uptick in nationalism and extremism.
The government, therefore, plans on establishing a committee to discuss alternative uses of the funds, with the goal of the money being used to boost the employment of east Jerusalemites instead.
“Unfortunately, in recent years we have witnessed nationalist extremism within the universities,” Smotrich said.
“Because of this, in the upcoming five-year plan, it was decided to establish a joint team between the Finance Ministry and the Jerusalem Municipality that will promote high productivity employment for the Arab population in east Jerusalem with a budget of NIS 200 million in order to bring results that will encourage the population of the east of the city to seek gainful employment and distance themselves from the circles of terrorism, thus meeting the goal set by the professionals and for which purpose the money was allocated in the first place,” the finance minister continued.
Opposition MKs bashed the decision, with MK Ze’ev Elkin (National Unity) saying “Smotrich pushes the young Arabs from east Jerusalem back into Palestinian universities. Then he’ll sit in the cabinet and roll his eyes at why terrorism is raising its head again in Jerusalem, and why young people in eastern Jerusalem are participating in disturbances. Sovereignty in east Jerusalem is not built with racism! Smotrich is against a united Jerusalem.”
National Unity head Benny Gantz tweeted that “Dealing with crime in Arab society is in the interest of the entire Israeli society and not just the Arab public. It does not amount to just police enforcement, but requires extensive and serious investment in all areas: education, infrastructure, welfare, and more.
“The racist decision of Finance Minister Smotrich to withhold NIS 200 million, which had already been promised, to the Arab authorities – is an injury not only to them, but to Israeli society as a whole.
“Netanyahu must intervene and not allow the already bleeding Arab authorities to be strangled.”
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