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