Religious Zionism Chairman MK Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday morning turned to the Defense Minister, Finance Minister, and Attorney General, demanding to know where the money promised as a loan to the Palestinian Authority would come from.
"Media reports say that during the meeting with [Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas, the Defense Minister committed to transferring to the Palestinian Authority a loan of 500 million shekel ($155,846,150)," Smotrich wrote in a letter to the ministers.
"I request to know what the budgetary source for the transfer of a loan to the Palestinian Authority is: From which section, from which area of action, and from which plan will the funds be transferred?
"In addition, I request to know from which year's budget the funds will be transferred, and upon what legal basis the monetary transfer is based on, especially with regards to the Budget Law, the Knesset supervision over the implementation of the State budget, and the Pay to Slay Law."
Smotrich also turned to Finance Committee Chairman MK Alex Kushnir (Yisrael Beytenu), requesting that an urgent meeting be held. In his letter to Kushnir, Smotrich said that it is unthinkable that such a sum should be transferred for a purpose such as this, without the Knesset's approval.