Knesset passes law granting tax benefits to dozens of West Bank settlements |
The Knesset voted 32-23 Wednesday night in favor of a law granting extended tax benefits to dozens of West Bank settlements, amid fierce criticism that the coalition is prioritizing the measure while delaying aid for northern communities devastated by more than two years of Hezbollah attacks.
Sponsored by Religious Zionism MK Zvi Sukkot and lobbied for by party leader Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, the law creates a new “eastern confrontation line area” designation, expanding tax benefits to roughly 59 settlements located east of the security barrier, including Kedumim, where Smotrich lives.
Opposition lawmakers have accused Smotrich, whose party draws much of its support from the settlement movement, of using the measure to funnel state resources to his political base ahead of elections, which are to take place in September or October.
The party has been hovering around the electoral threshold for months, with polls alternately giving it the minimum four seats needed to enter the Knesset or leaving it below the cutoff.
According to the law’s explanatory notes, many West Bank settlements facing security threats are already included in the government’s national priority areas. However, unlike some communities along the Gaza and Lebanon borders, they are not eligible for tax breaks based on those security threats, which this law addresses.
Smotrich on Thursday celebrated the law’s passage as the correction of what he called a “historic injustice,” arguing that West Bank residents had long been unfairly excluded from security-based tax benefits despite living on what he described as Israel’s front line. Now, he declared, “they are no longer second-class citizens.”
הלילה השלמנו תיקון עוול היסטורי. הטבות המס שאישרנו במליאת הכנסת, הן צעד נוסף בדרך אל היעד של מיליון תושבים ביהודה ושומרון. זוהי לא רק ציונות במיטבה, אלא מהלך אסטרטגי שיחזק את רצועת הביטחון של ישראל, ויסכל בפועל הקמת מדינת טרור פלסטינית בלב הארץ. Advertisement if(typeof........