Former Minister of Finance vs. Minister of Finance: Dan Meridor, former Minister of Finance and current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, opposes Finance Minister Bezalel Smotritz's interview in which he wondered why a student should be funded at the institution and not supported by Avrachim.
"There is rude, bullying talk here against an academic institution with a reputation and international prestige, from which thousands of graduates have emerged. This comparison is completely unfounded, this whole statement is populist. It's a shame that this is how an Israeli minister speaks. If he doesn't know the truth, it's terrible. He knows it and still says it – it's a lie."
He said this after current Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's interview with Israel Hayom, in which he said: "A student at Bezalel costs the State of Israel NIS 38,50 a year. That's our subsidy. There are students of gender, of art, we invest in them. A normal country invests in the humanities, in art, in culture. I don't disparage the humanities or Bezalel, but how does he contribute to productivity by throwing paint at walls and calling it art? Why do we fund it? Because that's what a normal country does. If I fund NIS <> million for Habima, and film funds for ninety-something million, then I can fund other values as well. I fund the yeshivas much less.
He added: "This is a completely violated comparison, a student in Israel at any academic institution such as a university pays tuition to study, he does not receive free. An undergraduate student at Bezalel pays over NIS 40,10 (NIS <>,<> per year) and for a master's degree the tuition fee is higher. In addition, most of them also served in the army and contributed even before entering their studies. He receives state subsidies like any student studying Talmud at university. At yeshivas they don't pay anything, they just get money from the state.
Finance Minister Smotrich, photo: Paul Jonathan Zindel/Flash90
Dan Meridor, who previously served briefly as Minister of Finance (1996) and his son Shaul Meridor, was head of the Budget Department at the Ministry of Finance. According to the former minister: "Bezalel makes a contribution in the heart of Jerusalem, he has female students and also Arab students – something he does not have in yeshivas. In an ordinary country, the education minister and the prime minister should have had reservations about it immediately, but the first to do it, Minister Smotrich himself, I hope he distributes budgets, is another Smotrich - if that's what he thinks about art, and woe betide us. This explains about the man. It would be better for him to retract his decision and understand that the State of Israel without technology, learning and the spirit is not the State of Israel. The country would not look the way it is if it were not for the Bezalel Academy of Art. This blatant speech against art and this contempt is taken from regimes that disparage art and have launched struggles against modern art."
Even the academic institution itself did not like the Finance Minister's remarks. In a message they wrote, "Why budget a student at Bezalel?" "The answer is simple – a student at Bezalel pays tuition and works to pay for his living during his studies. Like all students in public institutions in Israel, their studies are also funded by the state. Thanks to this budget, Bezalel students are trained to be productive, active and involved citizens who contribute to society, culture and the economy in Israel."
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