Finance Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) sharply rebuked Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism) for remarks he made regarding coalition funds during a meeting of his party, Religious Zionism.
These discretionary funds, allocated for coalition use, are designated to supplement yeshiva budgets and provide financial backing for communities in Judea and Samaria.
During the discussion, Smotrich asserted that he had presented Gafni with the option of incorporating the coalition funds allocated to the chareidi parties into the regular state budget. However, according to Smotrich, Gafni declined the offer.
Gafni dismissed this claim, arguing that the proper procedure for integrating coalition funds into the baseline budget is well-known. “You don’t need to be in the Knesset for many years to know where the solution to coalition funds lies, and Smotrich knows very well that the proper way to put something into the basic budget is through the government and not through reservations in a committee,” he stated.
Taking aim at Smotrich’s approach, Gafni further stated, “We expect him, in his position as Finance Minister, to make efforts to eliminate this impurity called ‘coalition funds,’ as he himself promised to do. It’s in his hands.”
{Matzav.com Israel}