MKs vote down bill for JNF transparency

Knesset members vote down a proposal to include the Jewish National Fund in the Freedom of Information Law that allows citizens to receive information on the activities of most public authorities.

The bill, proposed by Yesh Atid’s Miki Levy, comes days after State Comptroller Yosef Shapira recommended launching an investigation into suspected criminal activity by the JNF, which he slammed in a report as a bloated organization with little transparency that may have mishandled funds and acted out of conflicts of interest.

The organization, the report found, over a period of 15 months between August 2014 and October 2015, spent just a third of its revenue for public projects to develop land while “43 percent [of some NIS 3.5 billion] were used to expand its own financial assets.”

MKs voted on party lines, with 44 coalition MKs opposing the bill and 34 opposition lawmakers backing it.

— Raoul Wootliff