Opposition MKs urge criminal probe into Jewish Home minister

Opposition lawmakers urged the attorney general to open a criminal investigation into Jewish Home minister Uri Ariel and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire him over his alleged funneling of millions of shekels to benefit his purported political associates.

A state comptroller report released on Tuesday accused Ariel of transferring millions earmarked for poor towns in Israel’s rural areas to nonprofit organizations run by his political confidants during his tenure as housing minister.

The ombudsman’s report urged Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit to launch a probe into the case.

On Wednesday, Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid called on Mandelblit to order a police investigation into the affair.

Ariel “took millions that were supposed to be invested in our children’s future — the children in Dimona, Kiryat Shemona, the Gaza periphery and the Galilee — and used them in violation of the law to advance political interests,” said Lapid in a statement. “We cannot let this pass in silence.”

“The police must fully investigate this affair,” he added.

Zionist Union MK Stav Shaffir, who has long accused the coalition of using state funds inappropriately and with insufficient oversight, sent a letter to Netanyahu on Tuesday asking him to fire Ariel and a letter to Mandelblit pressing him to open a probe, according to a spokesman.

“He must open an investigation today,” Shaffir wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, referring to the attorney general. “The findings in the report point to criminal activity. The politicians involved, and their confidants, must not be allowed to touch one shekel of public funds.”

In an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, Shaffir — who has branded Ariel “a thief” — reiterated that the matter “must be investigated and I am certain he will also be punished.”

An official statement from the Zionist Union urged Ariel to step down, but stopped short of accusing the Jewish Home minister, who now holds the agriculture portfolio, of committing a crime.

“The behavior of Uri Ariel… is an example of the behavior of the government in [passing the] budget. First the confidants, first the settlers — then you,” it said. “The Zionist Union calls for the firing of Ariel as a first step in dissolving the entire government.”

Meretz MK Michal Rozin also sent a letter to Mandelblit asking him to investigate on Tuesday, while her party leader Zehava Galon opined that “Uri Ariel and his associates need to see the inside of an interrogation room soon.”

According to State Comptroller Yosef Shapira, in 2013-2014, Ariel surrounded himself with the leaders of various housing organizations and lobbyists who, while not employed by the ministry, were repeatedly misrepresented on ministry documents as official representatives.

Those figures were actively involved in revising a government development plan for their own benefit to apply to all of Israel, rather than solely to poorer areas as was originally intended, the report said. Ministry employees were not included in the reformulation of the plan, known as Resolution 741, it said.

At their prodding, Ariel budgeted millions of shekels to nonprofit organizations in the middle- to upper-class areas of Tel Aviv and its suburbs, the report said.

Although the plan broadly sought to develop rural areas, Ariel oversaw the transfer of NIS 29 million ($8 million), some 46 percent of the budget, to middle- or upper-class areas in central Israel, the report said. Of that sum, some NIS 10.5 million were earmarked for areas classified as of “high” socioeconomic status.

“Then-housing minister Uri Ariel, who had personal relationships with the political associates and his advisers at the time, is responsible for the failures that were raised. The decision by the Housing Ministry and the Settlement Division to fund… groups whose members live in, and are active in, neighborhoods with a high socioeconomic status in central Israel, some of which don’t even qualify for Resolution 741, requires an examination by the attorney general,” the report said.

According to the report, Shapira rejected Ariel’s claim that he was unaware of the lobbyists’ misbehavior and thus didn’t bear responsibility for their actions.

“The lack of knowledge, as claimed by the minister, about his behavior about his confidants and interested parties linked to them does not absolve him from responsibility for this failure in governance and in managing the office to which he was appointed,” he wrote.

While the state comptroller report referred solely to Ariel’s stint as housing minister, the Haaretz newspaper reported last year that as agriculture minister he has continued to distribute funding from the peripheral towns to these organizations, allegedly run by Jewish Home supporters.

Hours after the state comptroller report was published, Ariel released a statement denying Shapira called for a criminal investigation into his actions.

“The comptroller did not recommend opening a probe by the attorney general into the actions of the minister,” he said, adding that he “respects the findings of the comptroller and has already instructed the relevant authorities to act according to his recommendations.”

Ariel in his statement did not deny the allegations against him.

Ariel’s fellow party member MK Moti Yogev came to his defense in an interview with Army Radio on Wednesday, saying the report was drawn from “biased” information and “lies” from a left-leaning group.

“It is primarily based on the biased and lies published by the left-wing group Molad which has one goal — to uproot religious Zionism,” he said.