The Knesset Finance Committee on Tuesday rejected for the fifth time a Defense Ministry request for funds to pay for enforcement of the building ban in Judea and Samaria. Members of the Committee demanded that Defense Minister Ehud Barak be present in the future if he planned to instruct Ministry officials to make another request for money.
MK Uri Ariel (National Union) told the Committee that a senior government official had told him that Barak had threatened to pursue demolishing of the Yovel neighborhood in Eli. “This is unprecedented blackmail,” MK Ariel said. “He is threatening widows and orphans of IDF heroes who live there. I demand that the Committee continue to reject these requests,” he told the Committee.