Association for Civil Rights: Cutting Arab community budgets for security purchases is a fatal blow to the five-year plan
The Association for Civil Rights (ACRI) urgently called on the Israeli government and the legal advisor not to approve Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's proposal to transfer 964 million shekels from the five-year plan budgets for the Arab community, stating it involves serious constitutional and administrative issues and constitutes a fatal blow to the five-year plan.
The Association for Civil Rights (ACRI) urgently called on the Israeli government and the government's legal advisor not to approve Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's proposal. The proposal stipulates transferring 964 million shekels from the budgets allocated to the five-year plan for the Arab community, which have not yet been formulated or approved, to advance security purchases. The association notes that this proposal involves serious constitutional and administrative issues and threatens to derail a plan intended to address discrimination and deep gaps in the Arab community before it even sees the light of day. This step follows a series of cuts made by the outgoing government from the current five-year plan budgets to reduce gaps in the Arab community. In this context, a petition filed by the association with the High Court of Justice, along with the National Committee of Heads of Arab Local Authorities and other civil society organizations, is still pending, against the government's decision to cut 496.9 million shekels from the current five-year plan budgets (Decision 550) and transfer them to the police and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) to fight crime. According to the association, submitting the proposal just about two weeks before the elections contradicts the duty of restraint imposed on a transitional government according to High Court rulings, as it predetermines budget priorities for the years 2027-2029 and restricts the powers of the next government.