Israel’s State Auditor, Retired Judge Joseph Shapira, has ordered an investigation of Minhelet T’nufah, the Momentum Administration, a.k.a. the Disengagement Administration, set up in 2005 by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office to care for the Jews who were being expelled from Gaza. Its original director was Yonatan Bassi of the Religious Kibbutz movement, Yediot Aharonot reported Tuesday.
T’nufah ceased to exist in 2014, and currently the former residents of Gush Katif are being cared for by a dedicated department in Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel’s office. However, despite its being defunct for more than two years, T’nufh continues to receive state funds estimated in the billions of shekels. Only two years ago, according to Yediot, T’nufah received some $42 million, and it isn’t clear where that money has gone.
Apparently, the missing money was noticed by MK Stav Shafir (Zionist Camp) at a meeting of the Knesset State Control Committee. Examining the T’nefah financial reports she realized only $2.1 billion out of the overall $3.41 billion allotted to the Gush Katif support efforts had been used to date. Where is the missing $1.31 billion?
Many of the evicted Jews of Gush Katif were resettled in Nitzan, a community near Kibutz Nitzanim in Ashkelon Coast Regional Council, just north of the Gaza Strip. A local official told Yediot that the burden of helping the evicted families fell mostly on the regional council, which had to fight for every penny with the Momentum Administration to manage their employment, social services, education, and psychological care. This official believes most of the missing money is being kept in the Agriculture Ministry’s coffers.