MK Yitzhak Ze’ev Pindrus, chairman of the United Torah Judaism faction, on Tuesday, informed Coalition Chairman MK Ofir Katz (Likud) and Minister Dudi Amsalem (Likud), who liaises between the government and the Knesset, that starting on Wednesday, UTJ MKs will not vote with the coalition on all the bills endorsed by the government, until their demands are met.
During the UTJ faction’s weekly meeting on Monday, Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Minister Meir Porush brought up the humiliating behavior of the treasury officials who refuse to fulfill the budgeting that was promised to UTJ in the coalition agreements. Porush demanded that the faction, after coordinating it with all the Agudah MKs, that they stop voting with the coalition until the matter is settled.
Minister Porush said: “How is it possible that a month after the approval of the budget and three weeks since we submitted a detailed document on the Heritage activity, the Finance Ministry still has not approved the transfer of funds for this activity? This can only mean a lack of recognition and understanding of the importance of this activity.”
The Jerusalem Affairs ministry was created in 1990, under Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, to assert the Basic Law: Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. It has since been canceled several times and reserved as an occasional remuneration to coalition partners in burgeoning governments. In 2023, PM-to-be Benjamin Netanyahu decided to gift the ministry to two different ministers: Porush got Jerusalem and Israel’s Heritage, and Otzma Yehudit’s Amichai Eliyahu got Heritage.
That’s a lot of heritage.
The Deputy Minister for Haredi Development Uri Makalev told the UTJ MKs at the same meeting that the situation is similar regarding the budget of the Authority for Economic and Social Development of the Haredi Sector, and suggested the behavior of the treasury officials betrays what they really think about his mission.
He’s probably right.
Netanyahu’s 37th government features 33 ministers and four deputy ministers. For an unfair comparison: President Biden’s cabinet has 15 department secretaries. And some say even that is a few too many. But, of course, President Biden’s cabinet is not deciding whether or not he remains in office. Unless the 25th Amendment pops up. But that’s a different matter altogether.
The budget for the Jerusalem Affairs and Heritage Ministry is minuscule, around NIS 3 billion. The check is probably going to be cut by the boys at Finance before Wednesday.
