Three days after the Knesset passed the law proposal to provide wartime economic aid on the first of three votes.
Today (Sunday) Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich, after discussing the matter with Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni, Coalition Committee Coordinator MK Eliyahu Ravivo, Opposition Committee Coordinator MK Vladimir Beliak, and MK Yinon Azulai, has decided to expand aid to businesses at a range of 40 km from the Gaza Strip, thus including the cities of Beer Sheva and Ashdod.
Omer Rachamim, adviser to the Finance Minister, said “the Finance Minister spoke a few minutes ago with the mayor of Beer Sheva and Ashdod, the property tax regulations which we will bring here to the committee in the coming days, will apply from 7 km to 40 km. We will create legal solutions for this matter. There is complexity and we need to see how we solve it. Within the math, we will try to create the precise model. This is the statement the Finance Minister announced.”
He ended by saying “I want to thank the Chairman of the committee, the coalition chairman, and the committee members with whom we’ve had a dialogue in the past few days. The dialogue gives great hope that we can end this war in the best way both at the front and in the rear.”
Committee chairman MK Moshe Gafni welcomed the news: “since the previous meeting which we all remember with many debates, we also sat with the organizations, with the Finance Minister, with the Finance Ministry people, opposition and coalition to reach a maximum of agreements. We arrived at significant changes, and we arrived at a completely different law than the Finance Ministry’s initial proposal. There are also the regulations, which according to the statement of the Finance Ministry means from 7 to 40, Ashdod and Beer Sheva are in. Therefore, when we have the discussions we will see that what was done and agreed on will be in, and what wasn’t done based on agreement – we will discuss all these matters.”
Beyond Aid to Business: Unemployment Money for Dismissed Workers
The law proposal offers an aid outline for small and medium businesses, offering to participate in their regular costs and some of their wage costs, amounting to overall aid to businesses whose revenue was harmed due to the war. The proposed model of amendments to the Property Tax Law is primarily based on the model of compensation given during wartime according to the law and grants issued during the coronavirus epidemic.
Accordingly, a business that was significantly harmed by the war and its consequences in the rear, will be entitled to compensation based on the level of damages, as calculated by decline in revenue, size of regular payments, and workers’ wages paid.
The government is working in a variety of ways to aid residents affected by the war both directly and indirectly. In addition to the above-mentioned aid package, they have proposed amending the National Insurance law such that the period from October 7, 2023 to November 30, 2023 will be adjusted and relief and benefits made available to pay unemployment aid to workers whose work was terminated due to Operation Swords of Iron.