Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich addressed the firestorm surrounding the freezing of budgets for Arab cities and promised that antagonism against the move will not make him back down.
Smotrich's words follow a column by columnist and broadcaster Kalman Liebeskind in Maariv in which he lists the places where funds designated for the Arab sector end up going.
Liebeskind writes: "Maybe Smotrich was right, maybe he was wrong [to freeze the funds], but the facts cannot be argued with. For many years, hundreds of millions of shekels that go out of the state budget on their way to important goals in Arab cities end up in private pockets and their burial place is unknown."
According to him, "For many years the State of Israel has been pouring huge amounts of money into a large sector within it, knowing that a high percentage of these funds support criminals, and thieves; robbing it in broad daylight."
Minister Smotrich agreed, responding sharply: "Tell me, does it make sense to you to continue to close your eyes and transfer hundreds of millions a year to corruption and criminal organizations in the Arab sector?! Not anymore. Not on my watch. And I don't care how long the false campaigns against me continue."