The Finance Committee, headed by MK Moshe Gafni, approved on Tuesday morning a budget transfer of about NIS 150 million for religious services, including: the establishment of religious institutions, infrastructure development and safety work at the Tomb of the Rashbi in Meron, the renovation of mikvehs in the city of Beit Shemesh, the revelry of the Baba Sali in Netivot, burial plans for ancestral graves, the operation of the rabbinical courts and the salaries of employees of the Chief Rabbinate.
Finance Committee approved: NIS 150 million for religious services//Knesset Channel
The sum did not enter the budget base approved only in May of this year, but does appear in coalition agreements with the ultra-Orthodox parties and Religious Zionism. Last week, an across-the-board cut of NIS 736 million was approved, and most of the sum was transferred to support Haredi educational institutions – also in accordance with coalition agreements.
Yesterday, MK Vladimir Belyak (Yesh Atid) tweeted that some of the money, NIS 12 million, will be cut from the budget of the National Building Supervision Unit - while according to him, in the first six months of 2023 alone, 21 workers have been killed. The question came up for discussion in the committee, when MK Ahmad Tibi even said that most of those killed in work accidents were Arabs, and if those killed were Jews, the behavior would have been different.
The looting continues.
Tomorrow at 9:30 A.M., the Finance Committee will submit a budget request for the transfer of NIS 60.8 million for the Ministry of Religious Services.
The sum did not enter the budget base approved only in May of this year, but does appear in coalition agreements with the ultra-Orthodox parties and Religious Zionism.
There are many interesting things in detail about this transfer:...
— MK Vladimir Beliak Vladimir Belyak🇮🇱🟠 (@VladimirBeliak) September 18, 2023
Knesset Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni sought to clarify the issue of the budget source and whether the claim made was correct: "I read this morning in the newspapers that MK Vladimir Belyak says that part of this budget comes from the building supervision budget and I want to know whether this is true, if so - I am not bringing this item to a vote."
In response to Gafni's remarks, a referent in the Ministry of Finance's budget department responded emphatically: "The answer is - no!" According to a representative of the Budget Department, the budget comes, among other things, "from a budget that is intended in advance for the use of establishing religious institutions, because the establishment of religious institutions is also a process that requires supervision of construction on it."
Read his words in the newspapers: "The looting continues." Vladimir Belyak, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
This answer was not clear to the Knesset members, so the committee chairman, MK Gafni, insisted on clarifying how the Ministry of Finance would act to return funds for building supervision. To this question, Tamar Levy Boneh, macro coordinator in the Budget Division, replied: "There is no harm to what was agreed with that unit. We are looking at the performance of that unit, and the transfer will not cause such harm."
It should also be noted that while the debate focused on the budget source of NIS 12 million, most of the transfer amount comes from the reserve budget.
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us