News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) MK Eli Aflalo (Kadima) criticized government policy on Monday night, saying that a lack of funding had made the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee completely meaningless.  In a finance committee meeting, Aflalo said that the NIS 157 million allocated for rural towns in the 2008 annual budget was insufficient to prevent the collapse of crucial services in rural areas.

Aflalo called the proposed budget “absurd,” arguing that many hospitals in the north are lacking entire departments.  “These and other problems show the government’s lack of desire to make the Negev and Galilee a top national priority,” he said.