An interministerial steering committee headed by the Construction and Housing Ministry will work to formulate recommendations to define criteria for defining neighborhoods with high concentration of illegal infiltrators throughout the country as a national priority area.
According to the government's decision, which was led by Housing and Construction Minister Major General (res.) Yoav Galant, NIS 30 million ($8.25 million) will be transferred to aid these neighborhoods, which suffer from a high concentration of infiltrators.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the cabinet meeting, "This government is making great efforts to remove illegal migrants from the country. These efforts are continuing all the time and are world-embracing. In the meantime, the residents of the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv and other places are groaning under the burden of a complex reality; therefore, today the Cabinet will approve an important and correct decision."
"We will define areas with a high percentage of illegal migrants as national priority areas. We will invest tens of millions of shekels to rehabilitate and strengthen infrastructures, and improve social welfare, education and health, in south Tel Aviv. This is necessary in order to strengthen the socio-economic resilience of neighborhood residents, who are dealing with many challenges. At the same time we will continue our diplomatic efforts to deport the migrants. We are committed to this," Netanyahu said.
Minister Galant said in response, "Thanks to the government decision that we passed today, the neighborhoods of South Tel Aviv, which suffer from the problem of infiltrators, will become a national priority area. We will invest funds for the rehabilitation of neighborhoods and infrastructure in south Tel Aviv, And we are committed to providing the best possible response to the issue and we will invest millions of shekels in the interest of the subject, and I thank all of the government ministries that are partners in the decision and Tel Aviv City Council member Suzi Cohen-Zemach, who leads the matter. "
"I welcome the decision of the Israeli government, which defines southern Tel Aviv as a national priority area," said Suzi Cohen Tzemach, chairman of the Tel Aviv city council's Southern District faction. "The time has come for the State of Israel to recognize the suffering of the residents of the area whose quality of life has fallen to a low point as a result of the heavy burden inflicted by the infiltrators on the neighborhoods. This is a holiday for the residents of the southern part of the city, since my efforts to bring huge budgets for the disadvantaged populations, education, welfare and youth at risk have borne fruit. I thank my friend the Minister of Housing and Construction Yoav Galant for leading the government decision. As we brought this achievement, this should lead to the expulsion of the infiltrators. "
Within the framework of the decision, an interministerial steering committee will be established to formulate criteria for defining statistical areas as national priority areas and to formulate recommendations for determining criteria for the distribution of the budget among the authorities.
In these neighborhoods, a social-community program with a total budget of NIS 30 million will be implemented over the three years 2018-2020. In order to help the residents of the region to be recognized as a national priority, the program will include rehabilitation and socio-economic advancement of families on welfare. There will also be programs for educational reinforcement, in formal and informal education, with an emphasis on early childhood and youth, and community health services for needy families, with an emphasis on healthcare for children, will be promoted and small and medium businesses will be promoted. The size of the budgetary participation of the local authorities will be determined with reference to the socio-economic status of each authority.
Construction and Housing MinisterDirector-General Hagai Reznik and Interior Ministry Director-General Mordechai Cohen will head a steering committee for the program, with the participation of representatives of the other partner ministries, professional representatives and a representative of the local authority. The steering committee will formulate the details of the social plan, timetables and success indicators for implementation. In order to implement this decision, the Ministry of Construction and Housing will finance the program budget of NIS 28 million from the budget of the following ministries: Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Social Equality, Ministry of Culture and Sport, Ministry of Development of the Periphery, Negev and Galilee .