Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli on Monday criticized former Construction and Housing Minister MK Yitzhak Goldknopf, slamming the Housing Ministry's policies during his time in office.
In a public letter he published, Chikli accused Goldknopf of promoting sectorial interests at the expense of the general public, in a way which especially harmed reserve soldiers and residents of the Negev, Galilee, and Golan.
"Hello to former Minister of Housing Yitzhak Goldknopf," Chikli wrote. "As Minister of Housing, you acted based on narrow sectorial considerations, treating the Prime Minister's policy of prioritizing reserve soldiers and strengthening Jewish settlement in the Negev and Galilee as merely a recommendation."Chikli recalled a statement made by Goldknopf during his tenure, in which he expressed satisfaction at redirecting tenders that were meant for the general public to benefit the haredi community.
"Even what they thought to be for the general public, we took somehow for the Haredi public, not everything can be discussed," Chikli quoted Goldknopf as saying. He noted that the person behind this move was then-Director General of the Housing Ministry: Yehuda Morgenstern.
Chikli further accused Goldknopf, along with Israel Lands Authority head Yankee Quint, of "embittering the lives of Jewish settlers in the Galilee, Golan, and Negev." He noted that when a law was promoted to allow Jewish community settlements to grow without the need for tenders, legal officials at the Israel Lands Authority invented a legal interpretation that effectively thwarted the law's implementation.
Additionally, Chikli alleged that when the Prime Minister sought to raise the land discount ceiling for national priority areas, land valuations in these areas suddenly soared, making it more difficult for the housing-deprived to purchase homes. He mentioned cases where nearby settlements received drastically different land valuations.
Chikli also attacked the prioritization of "Target Price" projects, which he claimed were rapidly advanced only in haredi communities, while other areas received only "the usual bureaucratic treatment."
"This is the policy you led, along with your followers Yehuda Morgenstern and Yankee Quint," concluded Chikli. "It's too bad about the bubbamaises (Yiddish for nonsense - ed.) - I'm familiar with and an expert in the details, and was even being nice. It is unacceptable for a ministry like the Ministry of Housing to be in the hands of a sectorial party, and even more unacceptable for the Israel Lands Authority to be held by someone who led such a policy in practice."