As reported in Israel Hayom, the expansion of full compensation to businesses from 20 kilometers to 40 kilometers from the Gaza border, announced by Finance Minister Smotrich, will be valid only for October. This means that the compensation outline that has so far applied to communities located within 7-20 kilometers of the Gaza border, and includes full compensation according to losses in turnover or workers, will be extended to communities located up to a distance of 40 kilometers.
Finance Minister Smotrich in a statement: "We have built a strong economy - we will pay the price of war" // GPO
Last week, Smotrich instructed that assistance to businesses be expanded to a range of 40 kilometers to include the cities of Be'er Sheva and Ashdod, and the decision was made without professional consultation with professionals in the Ministry of Finance. Finance Ministry sources pointed out the problematic nature of expanding the outline – additional costs, and that mayors of other cities, such as Rishon LeZion or Tel Aviv, which were no less shooting ranges than Be'er Sheva, will also be required to receive full compensation.
Senior Finance Ministry officials told Israel Hayom last week after the minister's announcement at the Finance Committee: "We didn't know about it, it will cost billions more. The problem is that Be'er Sheva is no different from Rishon LeZion, Rehovot or Tel Aviv – what will happen with these cities?"
Closed businesses in Beer Sheva, photo: Dudu Greenspan
Adv. Roy Cohen, President of Lahav – The Association of Self-Employed Organizations and Business Owners in Israel, said in response: "In today's discussion in the Finance Committee, it was proven once again how important Lahav's presence at meetings is in order to protect the rights of the self-employed and businesses in Israel. In the middle of the night, we discovered that the regulations for compensation between 7km and 40km will unexpectedly only apply to October 2023, when we are already in mid-November.
"The Finance Minister himself announced that he had expanded the compensation regulations to 40 kilometers in order to compensate the cities of Be'er Sheva and Ashdod as well. Instead of creating certainty, those businesses in these cities will now receive compensation for the month of October and in November will again remain in the air and in uncertainty. This is literally a recipe for creating chaos in the economy. I call on the Minister of Finance to fulfill his public obligation and to provide compensation in these regulations for November as well.
Roy Cohen, Chairman of the Chamber of the Self-Employed in Israel, Photo: Ofir Abe
Cohen added, "Surprisingly, we also discovered that the definition of 'self-employed' was only self-employed who works in an educational institution, meaning that all self-employed persons were excluded from the compensation framework in the wage track, contrary to the regulations that were in Operation Magen and Arrow last May. Unfortunately, once again the Finance Ministry sees us, the self-employed, as an expense that must be cut in every way, as opposed to the need at this time to adopt an approach that sees the self-employed and business owners as an investment that will generate future growth and revenue for the state."
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