MK Moshe Feiglin
MK Moshe FeiglinIsrael news photo: Flash 90

The Oslo Accords, not Israeli “settlements,” are the real drain on Israel’s budget, MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud Beytenu) said Monday night, speaking from the Knesset podium.

Feiglin poked fun at Yesh Atid head Yair Lapid’s “where’s the money” election slogan, and at Lapid’s suggestion that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are a drain on Israel’s financial resources.

“As a resident of the settlements I decided to look for the money, in order to give it back,” he began. “I have an announcement: I found the money. I found 453 billion shekels.”

“You want to hear where the money is?” Feiglin continued. “86 billion over the past 20 years in Israeli transfers to the terrorist regime in Gaza called the Palestinian Authority.”

“An increase to the Shin Bet since the Oslo Accords, adding up to 28.5 billion. You’ve seen how much the settlers cost us – let’s see how much the leftists and the idea of the Oslo Accords cost us.

“The Border Patrol in Judea and Samaria, which hadn’t been necessary before [the Oslo Accords] in Judea and Samaria, has cost us 19 billion since the Oslo Accords.

The added cost for deployment of the IDF since the Oslo accords is 87 billion shekels, he said. The security guards placed everywhere in Israel beacuse of the terror threat have cost 68 billion shekels to date. Roads paved to cirumvent terror hotspots have cost 20 billion shekels. The separation barriers have cost 4.7 billion shekels. Losses to the tourism industry after Operation Defensive Shield were 123 billion. 

“This is the cost of the 'brilliant' idea of dividing the land and of the Oslo Accords,” Feiglin declared. “This is the cost of adopting a leftist ideology for the past 20 years.”

There are more expenses, he added, “Before Oslo, we did not need a guard stationed at every café, there were no terrorists blowing up here. It wasn’t paradise, but restaurants weren’t blown to the skies.”

Lapid's "where's the money?" slogan has been mocked by hareidi MKs as well.