Opposition Leader and Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid excoriated the Israeli government Monday, blasting its unprecedented size and spending on ministers, calling the expenditures inappropriate during the coronavirus pandemic and Israel’s economic recession.
Speaking at a faction meeting, Lapid called said the unity government is ‘disconnected’ from reality and the concerns of Israeli citizens.
“Shame is dead and we are watching the funeral. It's a long funeral procession with a convoy of cars, 36 ministers, 16 deputy ministers, two Audi A8s at the front and two at the back. They have no shame,” said Lapid.
“You look at this government, which is completely disconnected from reality, and ask yourself, ‘How come they can't see it?’ How do they not see what they're doing to the Israeli public? A million unemployed, small businesses collapsing and they're not even ashamed. They don't only have an alternate residence, they have an alternate conscience too. Totally shut off from the world and disconnected from what's happening in our country.”
Lapid went on to chastise the government for rejecting a bill which would extend unemployment benefits to the self-employed.
“Yesterday we proposed a law to the Ministerial Committee for Legislation – unemployment benefits for the self employed. It's the most obvious, the most urgent and the most critical thing for all the self-employed people in Israel. They dismissed it out of hand, they didn't even think twice. They broke all their promises to the self-employed and small businesses.”
“Yesterday we also found out that they won't extend the school year and they don't know where the budget for the summer programs will come from. These are real problems of real people, of the self-employed and of young parents.”
“The same day, yesterday, the government was very busy. Netanyahu asked for half a million shekels in tax refunds and Gantz asked the Finance Committee to raise his salary and provide him with staff for his home at the taxpayers expense. And to think they told the public that this is an emergency Corona government. I'd say it's shameful and a disgrace but they have no shame and they don't care about the disgrace.”
“Netanyahu has failed completely in managing the economic crisis. Unemployment in Israel is amongst the highest in the world. Gantz just isn't relevant. Ashkenazi and Gantz aren't involved in any position of influence for managing the Corona crisis.”
“Unlike them, we will keep fighting in the Knesset for everything that's important – we will fight for unemployment benefits for the self-employed, for support for the unemployed and for compensation for people who have paid high taxes and national insurance their whole life. The Israeli middle class which worked hard its entire life and in its time of need was abandoned by this shameless government.”