Uproar in Knesset amid revelation that settlement budget boost not going to security

Pandemonium erupts in the Knesset Finance Committee as opposition MKs discover that none of the NIS 368 million for the Settlements and National Projects Ministry in the updated national budget is designated for security requirements in West Bank settlements, despite statements to the contrary by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and settlements minister Orit Strock.

Finance Ministry officials provide details of the budget increases in committee, including NIS 70 million for social activism groups; NIS 94 million for the Settlements Division of the World Zionist Organization, which builds and develops small towns and settlements around the country and in the West Bank; NIS 32 million in support for pre-military academies, and NIS 98 million for the settlement ministry’s Jewish identity department.

Some NIS 110 million for security needs has been set aside in “reserve” budget items for use in case of necessity, but these reserve funds have yet to be approved by the Finance Ministry’s legal department.

“The finance minister said the money was for security needs. He’s a liar!” yells Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri.

Labor MK Naama Lazimi denounces the budget for the settlements ministry as “theft,” adding that “nothing in this [budget] itemization is connected to security for Judea and Samaria [the West Bank].”