PM transfers NIS 70m to move IDF base, expand settlement

Funds were previously blocked by Yair Lapid, but went through last week; Netanyahu had pledged 300 new units in 2012

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enabled the transfer of NIS 70 million ($17.8 million) to the Defense Ministry last week to cover the costs of uprooting an army base in the West Bank, which would make way for settlement construction, Channel 10 reported on Sunday evening.

The funds were funneled to the ministry in coordination with Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon to pay for the base’s move, which would allow for the expansion of the Beit El settlement.

Two years ago Netanyahu had promised 300 new units to the residents of Beit El in compensation for the evacuation of the Ulpana outpost adjacent to the settlement. However, an army base is situated on the only state land available in the immediate vicinity of Beit El. The cost of moving the base stood at NIS 70 million, the TV report said, and while Netanyahu approved the transfer of the money to move the project forward, then-finance minister Yair Lapid blocked it.

However, since Lapid was fired by Netanyahu in late November, the prime minister — egged on by Housing Minister Uri Ariel and others — has moved the project forward, and last week the funds were allocated to the Defense Ministry for this purpose, the TV report said.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Yesh Atid party accused Netanyahu of advancing settlement construction while ignoring a national housing crisis.

“He transfers NIS 70 million to Beit El and builds in the settlements instead of solving the housing crisis for Israel’s young couples. Netanyahu prefers, as always, his narrow political interests over the public interest,” it said.

The party accused Netanyahu of “cynically using the tax money of Israel’s middle class to advance political goals,” and maintained that Yesh Atid was “the only line of defense against the extreme right groups exerting pressure” on the prime minister.

“Right now, all of our money is going to pave roads to nowhere, and is invested in all the wrong places,” it charged.

Ariel defended the move on Sunday night, arguing the government was merely acting on its earlier commitment to the settlement.

“This is a worthy decision,” Ariel said, according to Channel 10. “This is a government commitment from two years ago, following the destruction of the Givat Ulpana neighborhood, and it’s time the money went through. Better late than never.”