In a meeting Sunday evening with local Arab leaders and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed to release funds earmarked for Arab municipalities that he had recently frozen over ostensible concerns they would reach criminal elements.
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Smotrich said the funds, totaling NIS 200 million ($53 million), would be transferred to the Interior Ministry in the coming weeks, while he would seek to establish a mechanism for greater oversight of the money’s use.
He set a two-week timeline for the government to develop protocols to block the flow of funds to criminal organizations. Once implemented, he said, the Interior Ministry can release monies to Arab municipalities.
“I’m happy that we have full cooperation” on the oversight mechanism, Smotrich told Army Radio on Monday morning, adding that it would apply to all funding, from all ministries, for Arab municipalities.
Kafr Qasim Mayor Adel Badir, who attended the meeting, said it was held at the Shin Bet headquarters, that it lasted for five hours, that Bar was present throughout, and that by the end all sides were in agreement.
