From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Arab lawmaker says 2024 amended budget discriminates against Arab minority
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
United Arab List MK Waleed Alhwashla criticizes the government’s proposed 2024 amended budget for discriminating against Israel’s Arab minority during a debate in the Knesset plenum.
Alhwashla objects to plans to cut about 15% of funding for a five-year plan intended to advance the social and economic integration of Arab Israelis, calling the budget one that “doesn’t see Arab society or Bedouin society.”
“Just like Smotrich doesn’t see and doesn’t want to see the Arab women with his wife in the maternity ward, so he doesn’t see the Arabs in the budget,” he says about Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.
“Instead of advancing the closure of gaps” the budget “widens them,” he says, accusing the government is “giving a green light” to crime in the Arab sector rather than combatting it.
The Shin Bet and National Security Council reportedly warned earlier this year that such cuts could “intensify the risks of an outbreak of violence.”
Alhwashla’s comments come on the heels of the killing of a former city council member in the northern town of Baqa al-Gharbiya on Sunday, the sixth violent killing in Israel’s Arab community within just 24 hours.
According to the Abraham Initiatives, the killing of Qadan marks the 38th violent death among Arab Israelis since the start of 2024, compared to 30 in the same period in 2023 — which was the bloodiest ever year in the community on record; 244 Arab Israelis were killed last year.
Lawmakers are currently engaged in a special 25-hour debate ahead of Wednesday’s vote on the proposed amended 2024 wartime budget.
