Minsiter Uri Ariel - Check if Chinese Purchase is Legal

Building and Construction Minister Uri Ariel has ordered his staff to check on the legality of the Chinese purchase of Tnuva, Israel's largest food company.

According to a 2011 law, Israeli land can not be transferred to foreign agents without authorization by the head of the Israel Lands Authority (ILA).

Ariel has asked his staff to check on Tnuva's land holdings.

Bentzi Lieberman, the head of the ILA, said that he has learned that Tnuva holds hundred of dunams of land, worth hundreds of millions of shekels, according to a report in Makor Rishon.

The law states that land rights transferred without proper permission, will not be legally recognized.

The sale of Tnuva to the Chinese is very controversial in Israel.