According to a report not-yet-released by State Comptroller Justice Yosef Shapira, former Minister of Housing (Shas) used undue influence to direct decisions made by Israel Lands Administration officials to favor the chareidi tzibur.
The minister is accused of using his position to direct government funding to the chareidi sector at the expense of the non-chareidi sector, Channel 10 News reported. According to the report, there were 50 such cases that were probed in 2011 alone, in which the minister’s actions hurt non-chareidi sectors of the population regarding efforts to get affordable housing.
A Petach Tikvah housing project was cited as one of the examples given, in which the minister altered the project to tailor it to chareidim and not non-chareidim. Another case cited involved thousands of apartments in Lod.
The report, when released, is likely to lead to police follow-up in the case.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
4 Responses
Nothing new, everyone does.
“I will send you a large mischloach manos basket” or “my wives yummy challahs” and next week when there’s a vote we exchange winks.
In the United States, he would be praised for taking care of his constituents. In Israel, its a crime, especially if the constituents are frum.
Israel government is set up to care for your own constituents,,, there is not a global, national concern.
Re “The minister is accused of using his position to direct government funding to the chareidi sector at the expense of the non-chareidi sector” – Happens here too.
Wearing a black hat and sporting a beard, while working as a lawyer in a State housing agency a number of years ago…I was approached by a Rabbi from a major yeshiva community…and asked to assist with the same sort of scheme in a Section 8 project…I demurred, telling him it was pas nicht.
And no Akuperma, this is not constituent work…it’s fraud