Minister of Interior Moshe Arbel has informed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that, in light of the war, he has ordered an immediate transfer of budgets to the Arab local authorities. This was reported today (Monday) on Channel Kan 11.
In the letter he sent to the Finance Minister, Arbel stated that the Arab authorities were already in a deep financial crisis even before the war, and their situation has worsened significantly due to the state of emergency. According to him, repeated appeals to the Treasury office have not been effective, so he decided to release the funds on his own initiative, despite the previous agreement that the budgets would only be transferred with Smotrich's consent.
In the letter, Arbel noted that the Arab authorities were already in a deep financial crisis even before the war, and their situation has worsened significantly due to the current circumstances. According to him, he had repeatedly approached the Treasury office since the beginning of the conflict but received no response. Therefore, he decided on his own initiative to release the frozen funds without the Finance Minister's consent in order to address the urgent emergency needs.
As previously mentioned, last August, Finance Minister Smotrich froze a special grant that was promised to the Arab authorities with the support of the then-Minister of Interior, Ayelet Shaked, and Minister Mansour Abbas in the Shinuy government, amounting to 200 million shekels. Smotrich stated at that time that he is "reassessing" what to do with the money based on "priorities."
Arbel then wrote a letter to Smotrich, demanding that he transfer the money to the authorities as soon as possible to prevent any budgetary imbalance. Despite the request, Smotrich ignored it and replied that he was examining the matter. Now, as reported, Arbel decided to no longer wait and instructed the transfer of the funds to the authorities.