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Army and Security
Cabinet debate: Ganz, Michaeli and Horowitz objected to the timing of the freeze on Palestinian tax money
The Coordinator of Operations in the Occupied Territories and the GSS objected to the timing of the freezing of NIS 600 million in Palestinian tax money due to the payment of salaries to terrorists and proposed postponing the move so as not to harm the PA.
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IDF
The Palestinians
the Palestinian Authority
Lightning Ravid
Tuesday, 13 July 2021, 15:00 Updated: 15:06
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During the meeting of the political-security cabinet that took place on Sunday, a debate took place between the ministers regarding the freezing of about NIS 600 million of the tax money that Israel transfers to the Palestinian Authority.
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz and Transport Minister Merav Michaeli and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz objected to the current freeze on funds due to the difficult situation in the PA and proposed postponing it.
The discussion lasted only a few minutes and the debate did not rise to high tones.
However, this is the first time that a cabinet dispute has arisen over Palestinian policy since the formation of the new government.
The money is frozen under a law passed a few years ago in the Knesset and is intended to deduct from the tax money that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority the total amount of benefits that the authority transfers each year to families of terrorists who have carried out attacks and killed or those in Israeli prisons.
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Have reservations about the move.
Ganz and Horowitz (Photo: Niv Aharonson)
During the cabinet meeting on Sunday, the Ministry of Defense presented a report on the amount of allowances the PA transferred to terrorists during 2020. According to two senior Israeli officials involved in the contents of the meeting, the coordinator of operations in the territories, Major General Rassan Aliyan, expressed reservations about the current freeze.
Aliyan told ministers that the authority is in an economic and internal crisis and needs these funds.
He noted that the authority would not collapse from the freeze of funds but in the course would further harm it.
The GSS representatives joined the position of the coordinator of operations in the territories and they also objected to the timing of the move and offered to postpone it.
Ganz responded to the recommendation of the coordinator of operations in the territories, noted that the timing was not successful To terrorists during 2019, ”Ganz said.
"On the one hand, they want to strengthen the authority and on the other hand, they are freezing money."
Abu Mazen (Photo: AP)
The Minister of Transport and the Minister of Health agreed with Ganz and supported the postponement of the deadline for freezing the funds. They claimed that the move would weaken the PA against the Israeli interest. On the other hand, Justice Minister Gideon Saar supported the freeze on funds and said that these were terrorist funds that the law required to freeze. Prime Minister Bennett also supported the move.
Israeli officials involved in the discussion noted that at another stage in the meeting, when senior IDF officials presented their policy toward Gaza, one of their recommendations was to strengthen the Palestinian Authority and weaken Hamas. "Strengthen the authority and on the other hand freeze their money," they said.
The room for maneuver and discretion of the Cabinet is relatively limited.
According to the law, the ministers are supposed to confirm that they have been presented with the report regarding the amounts of allowances that the authority transferred to the terrorists and their families, and once they have confirmed that the report has been presented, the money freeze is implemented.
Senior Israeli officials noted that the defense minister and the prime minister could have some influence on the timing of the offset, but stressed that the move was supposed to take place at the beginning of the year and was delayed for about seven months.
A senior Israeli official noted that the freeze on funds is expected to begin on August 1 and that NIS 50 million will be deducted each month from the tax money that Israel collects for the Palestinian Authority.
The offset funds will be frozen and will not be used.
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