On video: Netanyahu in the Knesset Plenum: "We will maintain the status quo" (Knesset Channel)
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said today (Wednesday) in an interview in English that during his time as finance minister in 2003 he cut child allowances because they led to a "demographic and economic collapse".
He claimed that the private sector had to pay for the fact that the ultra-orthodox community "didn't work, but only had children."
In an interview he gave to promote his autobiographical book with the Canadian thinker and psychologist Jordan Peterson, Netanyahu described his policies in the Ministry of Finance and the political price he paid following the extensive cuts he led to child benefits.
"In order to put the oil, the public sector, on the diet, I had to cut Israel's magnificent welfare system, which encouraged people to live on allowances, and not go out to work," he said.
"I cut the child allowances, which were unusual in Israel, increasing with each subsequent child. The Bedouins in the Negev had 60 children and they could drive a BMW Jeep," he added.
"It led to a demographic and economic collapse, and the same thing happened in other sectors - in the ultra-orthodox community. They didn't work, they just had a lot of children that the others - the public - the private sector - had to pay for. And when you cut it, I can say - you don't become very popular".
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The chairman of Israel Beitenu, outgoing finance minister Avigdor Lieberman, responded to the comments on Twitter and wrote: "Netanyahu is telling the truth in an English interview for a change."
But reality proves once again that Bibi is a liar and does exactly the opposite.
He surrendered to the blackmail of the ultra-orthodox businessmen in order to escape his trial and all this at the expense of the economic future of the State of Israel."
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