Sources close to the Minister of Finance expressed their bewilderment this morning (Sunday) at the publication in Israel Hayom, according to which "aid to the Palestinians has jumped by hundreds of millions". "We have no idea what the article is based on", the sources claim.
"The Ministry of Finance does not recognize such amounts, and with all due respect to the Ministry of Finance, not one shekel can pass without the approval of the Minister of Finance."
According to the sources, the only two things that the Minister of Finance approved retrospectively in order not to break a personal commitment by Prime Minister Netanyahu to US President Biden are the reduction of the collection fee on fuel, which costs 80 million NIS per year and has been operating for several months, and the increase of tolls at the Allenby crossing which costs 40 million NIS per year but hasn't been implemented.
As mentioned, these two steps are a commitment given by Prime Minister Netanyahu to President Biden without coordination with the Minister of Finance, and after the fact, the Minister decided that it was wrong to break the Prime Minister's word and harm Israel-US relations, and therefore approved it while clarifying that from now on no one is authorized to make decisions or commit to issues that are within Bezalel Smotrich's authority as the Minister of Finance.
In addition, the sources point out that the Minister of Finance is offsetting much higher amounts to the Palestinian Authority that were not offset in the past, such as the electricity debts of the East Jerusalem Electric Company and the compensation money awarded to the victims of terrorism, and also that the smuggling of goods is being handled for the first time through the imposition of guarantees and technological measures and the estimates are that this will save approximately 400 million NIS per year so that the amounts transferred to the Palestinian Authority each month are lower than the amounts transferred in the past.
Those around the Minister of Finance say that he will continue to work responsibly and in full coordination with Prime Minister Netanyahu to strengthen the settlement and hold off the State of Israel in Judea and Samaria and the fight against terrorism.
