While the IDF and the political elite are racking their brains over how to deal with the UNRA problem, it turns out that the agency that cooperates with Hamas enjoys a long series of economic exemptions, courtesy of the State of Israel.
Netanyahu at a meeting with UN ambassadors: "We must finish UNRA's mission"
According to a decree of the Ministries of Defense and Finance from 2005, all UN organizations, including UNRA, receive a series of concessions whose cumulative value is estimated to reach millions of shekels.
According to the order, UNRA is exempt from paying VAT on the fuel, diesel and oil it imports, as well as for any other property it brings to Israel for its facilities and employees.
It should be noted that this exemption was renewed in 2023. Also, UNRA is exempt from paying the excise tax on diesel fuel to operate water pumps and generators for electricity production and heating in its institutions. The excise exemption also applies to gas for its kitchens, clinics and school laboratories.
UNRA facility (archive), photo: AFP
The person who revealed the information is MK Yulia Malinovski (Israel Beytinu party) who in the last two weeks conducted an investigation into the concessions that Israel gives to UNRA.
In an urgent appeal to the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, Malinovski writes that "the State of Israel is a partner in financing the activities of this terrorist organization, so that the State is helping the enemy at the expense of the Israeli taxpayer with tax benefits in various ways, such as: exemption from excise tax on fuel and buttock tax, exemption from VAT At a zero rate on gasoline, oil and diesel, income tax on the salaries of UNRA employees.
"The State of Israel is a partner in financing the activities of this terrorist organization", MK Yulia Malinovski, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
"These are huge sums that cost the citizens of Israel," she added.
"It is not impossible that the State of Israel is apparently assisting in the financing of the organization through the granting of additional indirect benefits, among other things, transportation and unloading of goods."
Malinovski demands from Smotrich "immediately exercise your authority as the minister in charge of approving the above-mentioned orders, and that you revoke any possible tax benefit received by the terrorist organization UNRA, at the expense of the taxpayer in the State of Israel."
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