Chairman of the Center for Local Government: "There is no minister - and the Interior Ministry no longer exists"
Haim Bibas, chairman of the Center for Local Government, said at the "People of the State" conference held by ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth that the Interior Ministry is not functioning due to the absence of a serving minister for a year, and that this is delaying essential budgets for local authorities. He called to expand the authorities' powers and to establish a central rehabilitation administration for the north, similar to the Tekuma administration in the south.
Haim Bibas, chairman of the Center for Local Government and mayor of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, was interviewed at the "People of the State" conference held by ynet and Yedioth Ahronoth and presented a grim picture of relations between central and local government. Bibas sharply attacked the absence of a minister at the Interior Ministry for a year, since Moshe Arbel's resignation in July 2025, and said the ministry "does not exist" and is not transferring aid budgets to weak authorities, five-year plans, or budgets for building educational institutions. According to him, 40% of construction of educational and public institutions has been halted due to the inability to make decisions. He called for a broad transfer of powers to local authorities, with differential criteria. Bibas compared rehabilitation in the south, where the Tekuma administration operates, with the north, where "dormant" government ministries manage the process slowly. He stressed the need for a single center for the north. Regarding crime, he said a state that knows how to reach Tehran cannot claim it cannot deal with criminal organizations, and called to deploy the Shin Bet and police.