National Union MK Uri Ariel
National Union MK Uri ArielIsrael news photo

Knesset Members from the National Union and the Arab Raam-Taal parties traded one-two verbal punches Monday in a Finance Committee discussion on the building freeze and its effects.

MK Ariel, a resident of Judea and Samaria, accused MK El-Sana of being part of a “Fifth Column,” and the Arab MK responded by calling MK Ariel a “miserable and wretched low-life.” The raucous discussion was initiated by Likud MK Carmel Shama, who said his intention was not to overturn the building freeze but to “straighten things out fairly.”

Since the mini-Cabinet passed the building freeze last month, numerous deficiencies have been discovered that led Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to say that there was no intention to stop projects that already had been started.

MK Ariel charged that the Prime Minister “has treated residents of Judea and Samaria like eighth-class citizens and that the freeze order was carried out recklessly. There is doubt whether it will pass legal challenges. The order was done through an ‘underground’ without any public discussion in the Knesset, and I propose that we freeze it until the Knesset Finance committee finishes discussing it."

Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) told MKs, “I suggest a team from the Finance Committee sit with officials from the Finance, Defense, Interior and Housing ministries." He said residents of Judea and Samaria should be compensated if they already have poured concrete for homes and cannot continue to build because of the freeze.