Arad Mayor Yair Ma'ayan published a post on Facebook praising the actions if the Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf following a missile strike in the city that left hundreds of families without homes.
Maayan described how on the night the missile struck, Wasserlauf arrived in the city together with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. During the visit, Wasserlauf pledged an immediate aid budget of 2.5 million shekels to support resilience efforts and relief activities for evacuees and residents.
According to Ma'ayan, these promises were quickly translated into action: “He didn’t just commit - we received the funds immediately in the week following the visit, and even larger budgets for cultural events, informal education, and demographic growth."
He also emphasized that this was the first budget the city received following the missile strike, and it has already been used to hold cultural and relief events in Arad.
"Minister Wasserlauf is connected to reality, has toured dozens of times in the north and is also present in the Negev," he said. "A huge thank you for all the support and assistance from the minister and the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and the Galilee. This is how a government should support the periphery."
Ma'ayan’s remarks came in response to an Arutz Sheva - Israel National News report regarding a query directed at Wasserlauf by Channel 12 News about the extent of his activity in northern Israeli communities. The Minister said that a morning program on Keshet 12 had asked whether and when he had visited northern communities since the start of Operation Roaring Lion in February.
Seeking to counter the implication that he was absent from the field, Wasserlauf sent the network his full and detailed schedule from recent weeks, including no fewer than 43 visits to frontline communities, meetings with local leaders, and visits to evacuatees' centers.
According to him, after the detailed schedule was submitted, the network decided to cancel the planned segment. "I’ll skip to the end," Wasserlauf wrote. "After I sent my schedule, they were apparently surprised and decided not to air the item."
The Minister suggested that the inquiry had been intended to portray him as absent during a time of crisis, and that once the reality proved otherwise, media interest in the matter faded.