MKs Efrat Reitan (Labor), Ram Ben-Barak (Yesh Atid) and Orit Farkas-Hacohen (State Camp) submitted a bill with the Movement for Quality Government to abolish government ministries that "do not create value and contribute to the war effort and to civilians," as well as ministerial and deputy ministerial positions in these ministries.
These are ministries with unused and irrelevant budgets for the needs of the war, estimated at NIS 14.<> billion, and voices have been heard in the coalition for some time calling on the "unnecessary" ministers to resign and divert their budgets to the necessary rehabilitation and treatment purposes. According to the bill, the budgets of the cancelled government ministries will be directed within <> days "to a designation consistent with the recommendations of the War Management Cabinet."
The bill lists seven ministries slated for closure: the Ministry of Intelligence, the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, the Ministry of Jerusalem and Jewish Tradition, the Ministry of Heritage, the Ministry of Settlement and National Missions, the Ministry for the Advancement of the Status of Women, and the Jewish Identity Authority in the Prime Minister's Office. In addition, the Knesset members demand the cancellation of the offices of deputy ministers and other ministers during the emergency, such as the additional ministers in the ministries of defense, justice, education, and the Prime Minister's Office, as well as the deputy minister of agriculture.
"The message doesn't penetrate." Reitan, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
MK Efrat Reitan, former Chairman of the Labor and Welfare Committee: "At these critical times, clear actions are required for the benefit of the war effort. "Together we will win" cannot remain a slogan among some government ministers. While citizens are mobilizing in full force, including with huge donations, in some government ministries the message does not seem to have penetrated. It is inconceivable that there are still ministers in the government whose contribution these days is negligible and even unnecessary, who have huge budgets and continue to be cut off from the people and the public. They must act immediately to rehabilitate the home front and the war effort, and transfer all their budgets for aid. I expect all coalition MKs and government ministers to put politics aside and do the right thing and support the bill."
"There is no privilege." Farkas-Hacohen, Photo: Haim Tzach, GPO
Former Minister MK Orit Farkas Hacohen, member of the Finance Committee: "Actions, not words. The important bill will "help" the government do the right thing. Only an immediate change in Israel's budgetary priorities will enable Israel to meet the economic challenge that the war has brought upon us. The cost of the war is already estimated at NIS 200 billion. We don't have the privilege of having unnecessary offices and wasting our money in places that don't encourage growth."
"For the sake of fighting and strengthening the home front." Ben-Barak, Photo: Gideon Markowitz
MK Ram Ben-Barak, former deputy head of the Mossad and chairman of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: "Every shekel invested by the government should be directed to the fighting and strengthening the home front. The citizens of the State of Israel critically need state support – strengthening personal security, strengthening the health system, welfare and social services, of course – while returning the economy to activity. The good of the country is more important than the good of the coalition."
Adv. Heidi Negev, Head of the Policy and Legislation Department at the Movement for Quality Government: It seems that the only thing that stood before the eyes of the drafters of the coalition agreements was satisfying the wishes of the coalition members, while no thought was given to the needs of the citizens of Israel. The current government is full of unnecessary and bloated ministries, which, even if they want to, are unable to provide assistance to the citizens of Israel during the terrible crisis that has befallen us. The NIS 1.5 billion budgeted by the unnecessary ministries constitute critical budgetary sources for war assistance, strengthening the home front, and assisting the evacuees, and eliminating them will enable the removal of unnecessary bureaucratic barriers. Government ministries are not intended for the purpose of finding work arrangements for members of the government – the government must abolish the ministries, and put the good of the citizens before its eyes over the good of the coalition members."
"In light of this, we call on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to announce today the immediate launch of all the frameworks, such as those implemented during the coronavirus, as well as the immediate activation of all the grants that the Minister of Finance committed to this morning. We call on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance to instruct that all subsidies, benefits, state-guaranteed loans and other measures will be implemented immediately, starting today, without bureaucracies or committees or other processes whose damage far exceeds their benefit, certainly at a time when creating certain certainty is the most important goal."
Wrong? We'll fix it! If you find a mistake in the article, please share with us