The strike by local authorities in Israel to protest the Arnona Fund law has ended, but the struggle continues. This morning, the Federation of Local Authorities in Israel announced the end of the strike, which it announced on Sunday and lasted for four days, but will instead turn to legal means to fight the bill, which has been approved in a watered-down form for the second time. And the third readings of the Finance Committee in the Knesset on Monday.
Under the bill, the more arnona (local property prices) the local authority collects from non-residential property, the more it will pay into a fund that will be distributed among all local authorities according to the number of building permits they issue for housing. The heads of local authorities in large commercial and industrial zones objected to the bill, and a decision was made on Sunday to go on strike to protest the fact that the bill was passing through the Knesset despite their objections.
The bill was approved by the Knesset Finance Committee in a softer version than what was originally contained in the Economic Arrangements Bill accompanying the state budget. Despite the fact that in this version the amounts that the local authorities have to contribute to the Arnona Fund have been significantly reduced, the Confederation of Local Authorities has decided to continue to fight the bill.
“The Arnona Fund bill is a distorted bill that changes the basic rules of the relationship between the central government and the local government. This is an inequality law, based on false statements, that was presented by the Ministry of Finance and promoted in an aggressive and illegal way,” the Federation of Local Authorities said in a statement. which he calls for (dealing with the housing crisis), and it is clear that it was promoted out of external considerations.
The union has set up a team to coordinate action against the government, and says the campaign will take place “without harming the population.” At the beginning of the strike, all services were suspended in those local authorities that took part, including the education system in many of them. After criticism from the residents, the schools returned to normal activity.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich wrote an angry letter to Attorney General Gali Bahrav-Meara following the state’s response to the Industrialists’ Association of Israel’s petition to the High Court of Justice against the local authority strike.
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“I read with dismay the state’s response to the petition,” Smotrich wrote. “This is an illegal wild strike that is an abuse of power, and those charged with representing the interests of the state and its citizens were expected not to sit on the fence with a weak, hesitant and complex response, but to stand firm against the strike and demand its immediate cessation.”
“Your response which has been made on your own account, totally contrary to my position as Minister of Finance and respondent to the petition, without hearing my position in the discussion you have had, would cause great future harm to the State and the public, if a judicial decision was made setting a precedent determining that a wild blow Such a legitimate means of campaigning against the government and the Knesset.”
Smotrich is demanding that the public prosecutor immediately agree to independent representation in the court that will offer his position.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 18, 2023.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.
