Minister May Golan used state funds to finance fictitious jobs for friends, investigation finds
Women’s Advancement Minister and Social Equality Minister May Golan allegedly factiously employed confidantes and received donations to an NGO she founded without announcing a conflict of interest, an investigation by Channel 12 News found on Sunday evening.
According to the investigation, Golan used funding earmarked for “connection with voters,” which MKs usually use for fieldwork, to pay legal fees to a lawyer named Ehud Gabai for preparing lawsuits that were not filed.
Gabai’s wife, Inbal, was employed as a worker in Golan’s ministry without actually working there, the investigation found.
Prior to her service in the Knesset, which began in 2019, Golan was an activist against the influx of illegal migrants into South Tel Aviv. To that end, she founded an NGO called “Hebrew City.”
MKs must cut ties to NGOs they own once joining the Knesset. However, while Golan officially passed the leadership of the NGO to her mother, she continued involvement in the NGO, the investigation found.
For example, Golan, who chairs the Knesset Israel-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship group, requested that the Taiwanese embassy donate to Hebrew City. According to the investigation, the request came after Golan took the ambassador on a tour of South Tel Aviv and claimed falsely that the NGO helped migrants.
The embassy contributed $20,000 to the NGO, the traces of which are unknown, since the NGO has not filed financial reports for the past three years.
Golan requested funding
The investigation showed that Golan had also requested funding for the NGO from Roi Stern, a friend of Golan’s who owns a real estate company.
An investigation from 2024 regarding Transportation Minister Miri Regev showed that Golan had lobbied Regev to advance Stern’s personal interests in NTA, the publicly owned company working on the future Metro project. Golan also hired Stern’s wife, Merav, as an interim director-general of her ministry, despite lacking relevant credentials.
Ynet reported on Monday that the Israel Police had requested permission from the Attorney General to open an investigation into Golan. The report could not be independently corroborated.
Golan argued in her defense that she had severed ties with the NGO and denied that she had raised money for it, admitting only that she had operated to “raise awareness of the situation in South Tel Aviv with tours and public campaigns.”
She did not deny that she had employed Inbal Gabai, but she was permitted to do so since her position was a “trust position” (a personal appointment of the minister, as opposed to a professional functionary).
Stern denied that he had donated to Hebrew City or that he had received a request to do so.
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