Khaberni - Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich intends to transfer budgets from the Israeli Treasury amounting to hundreds of millions of shekels to the settlements and settlers in the upcoming weeks, before the end of his tenure and the term of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, with a portion of these budgets being obligatory for future governments.
One of these budgets, which Smotrich will present to the government as a resolution proposal soon, relates to increasing the budget for what is called "Jewish identity" by 200 million shekels as part of a three-year plan, spanning from 2026 to 2028, which means that this money will also be injected into the settlers in the forthcoming government through the government's commitment as per the resolution proposal with contracts that prevent the next government from not implementing it, according to what the newspaper "The Marker" reported today, Sunday.
This budget will be added to the funding of the "Directorate of Jewish Identity" in the Prime Minister's office, which has been approved this year for an amount of 82 million shekels, and to the "Jewish Culture" item in this year's budget amounting to 60 million shekels, "in addition to the hundreds of millions of shekels that are injected into the ministries of Heritage, Traditions and National Missions," according to the newspaper.
The newspaper added that at the Ministry of Finance they talk about a "flood" of resolution proposals that Smotrich will soon present to the government for approval in order to inject funds for coalition considerations.
The newspaper quoted an official in the Ministry of Finance as saying that "huge amounts of money will be injected, and the estimates in the government are that Smotrich will use the last months in his position to advance as many decisions as possible to strengthen his political power."
After the Knesset approved a law proposed by Smotrich that grants tax exemptions to settlers, he is currently pushing forward two decisions aimed at significantly expanding the definition of "national priority areas," through a decision that describes settlements in the Jordan Valley and another decision that expands the number of settlements around the Gaza Strip as "national priority areas," granting these settlements benefits and incentives in addition to tax exemptions.
