Tensions between Israel's Tax Authority and the Bnei Brak municipality are expected to reach a turning point on Sunday, as Tax Authority director Shai Aharonovich meets with Mayor Chanoch Zeibert in an effort to end a crisis that has frozen war damage compensation payments to city residents, according to Kikar HaShabbat.
The crisis erupted after Tax Authority inspectors were attacked last week in the Kiryat Vizhnitz neighborhood of Bnei Brak, when a crowd surrounded their vehicle, threw eggs and damaged the car's windows, forcing the inspectors to be extracted from the scene with police assistance.
Following the attack, Aharonovich demanded the municipality issue a public condemnation of the violence, and announced that until such a condemnation was published, Tax Authority inspectors and staff from the government compensation fund would not resume operating in the city. In an interview with Army Radio on Sunday, Aharonovich said he had a meeting scheduled with the mayor and was hopeful it would produce a public statement. He said he was not currently sending personnel into Bnei Brak because they were afraid, and noted that he had briefed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on the situation.
Despite Aharonovich's demand, the Bnei Brak municipality has so far chosen not to respond publicly to his letter, and has not issued an official condemnation. Residents of the Vizhnitz neighborhood reported that inspectors nonetheless arrived in the city on Sunday morning and were seen conducting business as usual, in apparent contradiction to the official freeze.
The standoff comes as the municipality separately deals with a break-in at its own building over Shabbat. Unknown intruders entered the second and third floors of the municipal building, prompting a large police response that secured the scene and opened an investigation. The municipality later said the break-in was carried out by what it described as fringe youths who entered several offices, caused damage and, according to initial findings, stole technology equipment and food products. Police are examining whether the break-in is connected to an earlier incident roughly a week prior, in which the office of mayoral adviser Mendy Rodich and additional offices were broken into and fingerprints were collected at the scene.
Attention is now turning to Sunday's meeting between Aharonovich and Zeibert, which is expected to focus on the demand for a public condemnation and on finding a formula that would allow Tax Authority staff to resume their work in the city. In his letter to the mayor, Aharonovich noted that this was the second attack on Authority inspectors in recent months, and reiterated that Authority staff would not return to the city until an unequivocal public condemnation was issued. He has also ordered compensation fund staff to halt processing of war damage compensation claims from Bnei Brak residents in the meantime.
Residents in the city are said to be waiting anxiously for the outcome of the meeting, hoping it produces a breakthrough that allows compensation payments to resume.
