Moments after the budget was approved on Friday in the first reading in the Knesset, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Deputy Minister Avir Kara agreed on promoting a program for small and medium-sized businesses.
A joint team with the Prime Minister's Office is expected to submit, within 60 days, an assistance plan that is supposed to include a safety net for the self-employed.
Deputy Minister Kara told Israel Today that the plan will include the solution to unemployment benefits for the self-employed. Budgets in the Treasury, and together we will make the right outline.We will access the plan within 60 days so we can put things into the current budget and finish the issue.
"This is a model of voluntary unemployment benefits for the self-employed, regardless of the corona. The corona is another event and we will take care of it. In the corona we saw that the state knows how to give money, but we are talking about the current. Whoever wants to enter the program will do so voluntarily, with part of the provision being at his expense and part at the expense of the state.
"The model is not closed yet. That is exactly why we are setting up a team that will look at alternatives. There are several alternatives on the table and we will go for the best. In growth. "
The transfer of the budget was described by Kara as "a tremendous achievement by the government. The regulatory authority will be established in the Arrangements Law. Out of 46 sections there were three in dispute, which will be enacted separately by the end of the winter session." Reducing bureaucracy and regulation.
"In addition, the Arrangements Law carries with it a huge number of other reforms, including huge reforms in imports and the Standards Institute in Business Licensing. Every importer knows that to date he has been blocked from competing by giant companies that did not allow parallel imports. He's crazy and that's a huge achievement. "
Kara at one of the Shulmanim demonstrations, January 2021 // Photo: Yossi Zeliger,
As the one who led the Shulmanim protests, how do you feel about having businesses that will not receive compensation despite the situation?
"As someone who stood in the town square and demanded not to close the business, I am proud of the government that made a wise decision not to close and not to say how not to work, but how to work. The green mark and vaccines make it possible to work alongside the corona.
"Some of the industries that are at the edges have been hit and we will have to deal with them. This is business with tweezers. There is no harm from March 2020 and no other closures. Going to a closure and another closure is not a solution. In the next week or two, we will be able to go through the fourth wave with a minimum of casualties. "