Uproar in Knesset: Settlement Budget Boost Not Going to Security

By Staff, Agencies

Pandemonium erupts in the Knesset Finance Committee as opposition MKs discover that none of the “NIS” 368 million for the so-called “Settlements and National Projects” Ministry in the updated “Israeli” budget is designated for security requirements in West Bank settlements, despite statements to the contrary by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and settlements minister Orit Strock.

Finance Ministry officials provide details of the budget increases in committee, including “NIS” 70 million for social activism groups; “NIS” 94 million for the “Settlements Division of the World Zionist Organization, which builds and develops small settlements around the entity and in the West Bank; “NIS” 32 million in support for pre-military academies, and “NIS” 38 million for the settlement ministry’s “Jewish identity” department.

Some “NIS” 110 million for security needs has been set aside in “reserve” budget items for use in case of necessity, but these reserve funds have yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry’s “legal” department.

“The finance minister said the money was for security needs. He’s a liar!” yells Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri.

For his part, Labor MK Naama Lazimi denounced the budget for the settlement’s ministry as “theft,” adding that “nothing in this [budget] itemization is connected to security for ‘Judea and Samaria’ [the West Bank].”