After the Housing Ministry last week announced new construction tenders chareidi lawmakers expressed harsh criticism. Betar Illit Mayor Rubinstein is among the more vocal critics, accusing the ministry and Minister Uri Ariel of discriminating against the chareidim. His accusations of discrimination were echoed by Shas leader Aryeh Deri.

Rubinstein explained that of a total of 800 housing units to be constructed throughout Yehuda and Shomron, only 102 will be built in chareidi communities, 102 in Emanuel and 24 in Betar respectively.

Arik Ben-Shimon, a spokesman for the minister used the chareidi media to issue a clarification, stating that since Ariel has assumed his post last year, Betar Illit has received 298 new housing units. He explained that during the tenure of Minister Yisrael Atias (Shas) in the Housing Ministry, referring to 2012, only 8 units were constructed in Betar Illit.

However Kikar Shabbos adds it checked with the Israel Lands Authority to verify the numbers, and in actuality, during Atias’ tenure in 2012, 379 housing units were built, significantly more than Ariel.

In response to Kikar Shabbos’ report, Ben-Shimon explains that in 2012, the ministry only announce two tenders in Betar Illit totally 27 units, of which 8 were sold. The others were not suitable for chareidim. An additional 350 were announced but those tenders were frozen by the Supreme Court over a dispute challenging eligibility requirements. The court order freezing those remains in place today so in essence, Betar only received 8 units in 2012.

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(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)