The approval of the updated state budget for 2023 is still stuck in the Knesset, among other things because of the issue of the budgeting of the security components for the Judea and Samaria settlements, which is supposed to amount to about 350 million shekels, which is classified as "coalition funds" and raises opposition among some members of the committee and in light of the fact that the budget division of the Ministry of Finance is raising difficulties.
According to one of the solutions, 153 million will enter through the budget of the Ministry of Defense and another 225 million will go through a separate government decision, through the budgeting of the Ministry of the Interior.
The discussion was attended by many of the heads of the local councils in the settlements, who resented the different treatment they receive, compared to the reinforcement of the security measures budgeted for the settlements of the conflict line in the south and north.
Shlomo Ne'eman, head of the Gush Etzion Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, said at the meeting: "I want to say that just as you said that you are elected officials, we are also elected officials, and these are our residents who elected us the same way the public elected you. Half a million of our residents are on the front line and thanks to them, Nukhba didn't attack Kfar Saba, and all the localities in the area. It doesn't make sense for us to beg, we haven't received a shekel since the beginning of the war, we bought helmets ourselves. So the Minister of Finance brought a proposal and we ask that the Knesset members here from the right and the left take responsibility for our citizens who are citizens of the entire country, and not vote on the budget before we receive the necessary measures to protect our settlements."
