This is how the coalition is trying to find budgets for Ra’am

Government ministries working on changing criteria to divert funds to Arab municipalities as promised to Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas.

Arutz Sheva Staff

Mansour Abbas

Government ministries are working to change criteria in order to divert funds that are supposed to go to Arab authorities, based on the promise given to Ra’am chairman Mansour Abbas during the talks to form the coalition.

Journalists Shirit Avitan Cohen and Danny Zaken published in the Globes newspaper on Sunday that out of the 25 billion shekels that are supposed to go to the Arab authorities, half of the money is supposed to come from the Ministry of Finance and half from other government ministries.

While officials in the Ministry of Finance released the required budget easily, other government ministries require changes in the criteria for transferring the money, and some of them have been imposing difficulties or in some cases have outright refused to make these changes.

According to the report, Cabinet Secretary Shalom Shlomo is working to solve the issue and is attempting to find a way to transfer the funds to prevent a possible coalition crisis, if no solution is reached.

Government officials fear that the attempt to indirectly pave the way for the transfer of billions to the Arabs while changing the criteria will cause the coalition goals of Ra’am to be fulfilled at the expense of other goals, even after this government fulfills its term.

The chairman of the Religious Zionist Party, MK Bezalel Smotrich, attacked the move and tweeted, “Simply put, it is called making up fictitious criteria to transfer money to the authorities that Abbas values the most. It is illegal, and if the legal advisers allow it in order to preserve the survival of this coalition it will be their downfall. A complete hypocrisy.”

He added, “I do not know if you understand the significance of this astronomical sum: 24 billion shekels that are supposed to find their way in tailor-made criteria for the Arab authorities, and from there directly to bodies affiliated with the Islamic movement, like its private militia in Kafr Qassem. This is corruption on steroids and a great danger to the State of Israel.”