It is difficult to recall when the government recently imposed sanctions on itself.
But this week it happened.
In an attempt to cut off an ongoing record, the ministers decided to punish themselves and cut the ministries' budgets that would not obey the government's countless decisions to move to Jerusalem.
The unusual move seeks to interrupt a 44-year-old saga, which stars a continuing violation of basic laws, government decisions left on paper and state comptroller reports that reveal a gap between lip service and field enforcement.
The move is an initiative of Jerusalem Affairs Minister Zeev Elkin. The Netanyahu government has rejected it twice in the past, and only this week, with Bennett, did he succeed. There is one goal behind the decision: to infuse reality with the phrase "governmental beer," which Jerusalem boasts of; To move to the city dozens of government offices and national units - all reluctant to move, which for years provide a variety of excuses to evade the move. This is not just about Jerusalem patriotism, but mainly about the addition of an annual income of hundreds of millions of shekels to the city coffers and an economic booster in the form of at least ten thousand employees.
As early as 1977, the government decided to move its offices to Jerusalem (with the exception of the Ministry of Defense and a few other exceptions), and since then it has not stopped deciding on the matter, a kind of copy-paste; Declare, reject, provide excuses, and so on. In 2007, the Olmert government set 2015 as the target year for completing the process, but in 2014, the Netanyahu government granted itself another extension, until May 2019, a date that it did not meet.
Every day in Jerusalem, the government spreads festive statements on the subject, often without cover. "Awakening", the opposition faction in the Jerusalem City Council, has been dealing with the matter for a decade. In the office of Chairman Ofer Berkowitz, oily binders burst from paperwork documenting the saga.
Berkowitz and members of his faction even petitioned the High Court in an attempt to compel the government to carry out its own decisions.
Now, for the fourth time, the state is seeking to adjourn the hearing.
Berkowitz hopes that this time the request will be rejected, and that on December 6, the High Court judges will finally discuss the issue.
NIS 382 million a year
In this ongoing story, there is no real difference between the opposition and the coalition in the Jerusalem municipality. Mayor Moshe Leon and Ofer Berkowitz speak more or less the same language. A few months ago, an administration was set up in the municipality to move government offices to the capital, headed by Leon's deputy, Yossi Havilio. He and his men are involved in mapping and documenting the default, and in an attempt to shake up the offices and direct them to Jerusalem.
His packages cover no less than 200 national government units that are currently located outside Jerusalem. 59 of them were granted an exemption from the Exceptions Committee, but 141 were supposed to move to Jerusalem, or appealed to the Exceptions but were rejected.
According to the administration, this is a "minimum of 12,000 workers," whose move to Jerusalem could boost the city's economy. A report by researcher Nadan Feldman, authored at the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Studies, also reveals that the relocation of Jerusalem by government units could yield a direct economic benefit worth NIS 382 million a year, bringing in at least 9,540 more workers to the city.
"In terms of revenue," Feldman notes, "this is an increase of more than 50 percent of the annual beer grant budget. In terms of employees, this is an increase of about a third of the total number of employees in the public sector in Jerusalem."
Feldman and another expert report commissioned by Awakening also note an expected annual increase of tens of millions of shekels in property tax revenues; creation of employment multipliers - thousands of new jobs as a result of increased demand for products, businesses and service providers in the city; Government, such as social organizations and non-profit organizations, lobbying companies and trade unions.
But until that happens, there is a long way to go. Both Berkowitz and his packages have a list of offices and units for which housing in Jerusalem is already ready, but the state allegedly pays them twice rent and twice property tax, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
One example that the Accountant General of the Treasury also needs is the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The ministry, both in the days of the previous minister Gila Gamliel and now under Tamar Zandberg, refuses to vacate its units, at 125 Menachem Begin Street in Tel Aviv, including the minister's office, to the residence in Jerusalem. "The non-transfer imposes double costs on the taxpayer on a monthly basis of about NIS 140,000, and constitutes a disregard for public funds," the Accountant General wrote in March 2021 to the ministry's staff.
But the big money of the double costs is in the Ministry of Economy. According to the administration of his packages, the office has 26 reluctant units, which are currently scattered in Tel Aviv. For about half of them, who have not yet moved, alternative housing has already been prepared in Jerusalem, but they allegedly pay double rent and property taxes.
Here are other examples of units that do not move to Jerusalem: the IPS, Lahav 433, the traffic division of the police, the government advertising bureau and units of RMI and the Israel Mapping Center.
The unit for commemorating prime ministers and presidents of the Prime Minister's Office is located at 17 Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv. The Ministry of Intelligence also operates from there, although it is listed on the website of the Prime Minister's Office as located in Jerusalem.
These are examples at the tip of the fork only.
Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel: Minister of Social Equality Meirav Cohen (formerly part of the Awakening faction in the Jerusalem City Council) is moving the bureau of the Women's Status Authority to the capital, and the unit of the economic advisor to the Arab sector.
Cohen even closed her office in the Champion Tower in Bnei Brak.
This coming April, the Ministry of the Negev and the Galilee and the Ministry of Regional Cooperation will also move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
A few years ago, the Innovation Authority moved to the city.
But these are only dozens of workers, out of thousands.
Drop in the ocean.
"there is space".
Berkowitz // Photo: Dudi Vaknin,
Over a period of five years or more, it is planned to move and concentrate the units of the Ministries of Justice and Education in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv to the towers built for them in Kiryat Ben-Gurion in Jerusalem, and to move additional units of the Ministry of Housing to Kiryat Begin in Sheikh Jarrah.
Experience shows, however, that difficulties are expected along the way.
Most ministers are afraid to confront the workers, committees and the Histadrut who do not like - to say the least - the idea of transition, mainly for reasons of convenience.
Detached from the real estate situation
"It created pressure," he says. "It opened up a lot of loopholes. We already know who we are dealing with. "
Berkowitz also rejects the argument that there are not enough areas in Jerusalem." There are many buildings, existing or future, that are intended for rent. "Whoever wants - housing will be found for him in the capital, especially in the not too distant future, the huge buildings of the Ministry of Justice in Saladin and the Ministry of Education of the Tribes of Israel will be vacated, and the workers will move to the government complex."
The Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem and the Head of the Municipal Transition Administration, Yossi Havilio, hope that the change is imminent. "All the governments, throughout the years, have talked very nicely about moving government offices to Jerusalem but in practice have done very little," he says. "I initiated the establishment of the administration to translate statements into deeds. We have some successes, like with the Ministry of Social Equality, but unfortunately there are other government ministries that just tweet about the law and waste public money. In this reality there must be a more aggressive attitude towards ministries. And the law. "
His packages are also not happy with the government's decision. "The damage from this decision far outweighs the benefit," he believes, "it's not even a lip service, but more a sham. Of the Government Housing Administration will be implemented and mature. "
Mayor Moshe Leon actually welcomes the government's decision and defines it as "extremely important."
According to him, it is "another part of fixing Jerusalem's status as the capital and city of government."
Leon notes, however, that in order for the decision to be fully implemented, the construction of the offices to which the units can move must be completed.
"We are working hand in hand with the government to make this happen."
The task is indeed enormous: in Kiryat Begin in East Jerusalem, construction of 200,000 square meters is planned for government ministries, including units of the Ministry of Internal Security and the Ministry of Housing. In Kiryat Ben-Gurion in the west of the city, construction of 443,000 square meters of 82,000 square meters is planned. They are intended for the Ministry of Education, which is due to move to its new location in 2025.
"lip service".
His packages // Photo: Israel Cohen,
"Let the ministers set an example"
Those who see things in a completely different light are the workers' committees. Erez Cohen, Chairman of the representatives of the employees of the Ministry of Economy and Industry, said that the workers and the mission he heads are obligated to comply with the decisions of the government. But he said, the decision is populist and practical, damage from multiple Mtoalotih.
"The state wants to take people who live in the center, people who have children In schools, whose entire life cycles are at the center, and forcibly transfer them to Jerusalem. If it happens - it will only happen on the margins. The majority will leave the government service and we will lose professional manpower, human capital and quality, for the benefit of the private sector. Everyone will lose. Too bad".
Cohen also attacks the sweeping view of government decisions. "Many of our units are in the center because that is where they provide the best service to consumers," he says. "The Industrial Cooperation Authority provides services to all the high-tech companies in the center - Google, Microsoft and others. "Members of the Jerusalem unit, I also impose punishment on those they are supposed to serve."
"Tel Aviv, not Jerusalem," says Cohen, "is the unofficial business capital of the State of Israel. If you want to evict civil servants - transfer them to Sderot, Yeruham, Kiryat Gat. I, a former Jerusalemite, tell you that Jerusalem must be strengthened first. "All housing for young couples, bringing in startups and higher education. Jerusalem is weak not because there are government units outside the city, but because its composition - a third of Arabs, a third of ultra-Orthodox, and a third of secular civil servants - weakens it."
Cohen claims that "in any case, there are not enough buildings today to accommodate the workers who are supposed to move to the city, there is no infrastructure in Jerusalem, no parking spaces, no proper public transportation. The way of a worker living in the center of Jerusalem will take many hours.
Meanwhile, many government ministries pay double property taxes and rents - in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Is this normal?
Cohen: "The municipality's administration analyzes the data in an interesting way; when there is a minister's office in Jerusalem and an office in Tel Aviv - it is indeed double rent and property tax, but when there is work space for workers, in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, it is like two workspaces in Jerusalem. one". He calls on ministers and CEOs to set a personal example first, and to make sure to hold all their meetings in Jerusalem, and "only after they come to the workers in the lawsuit to move to Jerusalem and worsen their conditions."
In 1949, Ben-Gurion made the first decision to move government ministries to Jerusalem.
The Ministry of Supply and Rationing, headed by Dov Yosef, was the first to move to the capital.
After that, the Ministry of Religions immigrated to the capital.
"The others," later austerity minister Dov Yosef said, "had excuses to postpone the transfer."
The excuses have remained to this day.
Now, it will have to be examined whether the decision on sanctions will indeed change the picture.
The sanctions, it seems, should be severe enough for the workers' committees, which are the main obstacle, to conclude that they harm the workers more than the relocation of the ministries to Jerusalem.
It is not clear whether at the government level made such an account.
The wording of the government decision shows that the sanctions, if and when, will be imposed carefully.
Deterrence, teaches years of experience, exists both from the government and from the committees and workers.
So there is no guarantee that even the rare move of self-sanctions, which the government decided on this week, will move workers to Jerusalem.