Arab mayors in Israel accuse far-right finance minister of racism after he blocked fund transfers to Arab councils

Arab mayors in Israel have accused far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich of racism after he blocked the transfer of funds to Arab councils and refused to allocate money for Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem to study in Israeli universities.

Defying the advice of security officials and civil servants, and despite criticism from other right-wing and religious coalition partners, Mr Smotrich, head of the far-right Religious Zionist party, announced the suspension of 316 million shekels (€78m) pledged by the previous government for Arab local authorities and another 200 million shekels (€49m) designated for East Jerusalemites to study in Israeli universities.

Arab citizens make up about 20 per cent of Israel’s population, and the Arab municipalities are traditionally among the poorest, heavily dependent on central government funding.

Arab mayors responded furiously to the decision, which they decried as racist and damaging, and demanded that prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu intervene.

EU enlargement anniversary overshadowed by concerns about Russia

---

‘On the precipice of a large scale massacre’: Sudan’s war escalates with dizzying speed

---

Who is Jordan Bardella, the young face of the French far right?

---

The lesson of Joe Biden’s presidency? Charisma and eloquence are overrated

---

Jisr a-Zarka mayor Murad Amash warned of serious consequences. “The people running the country at present are working in keeping with a clear agenda whose fundamentals are racism and destroying Arab society from the root. The meaning of stopping the budgets is a loss of control. That will lead to riots and chaos.”

Haim Bibas, head of the local authorities’ federation and a senior figure in Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, urged the prime minister to intervene urgently in order to ensure the transfer of the funds, stressing that the Arab local authorities were on the verge of financial collapse. The refusal to allocate funds that would allow them to provide basic services could deal them a death blow, he said.

Mr Smotrich defended his decision to withhold funds from Arab municipalities. “A large number of authorities in Arab society have fallen prey to criminal organisations. The funding ends up in the hands of those that cause damage.”

He denied allegations that the frozen funds would be transferred to illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Mr Smotrich also justified stopping funding for enrichment programmes designed to encourage East Jerusalem Palestinians to study in Israeli universities, saying he had the support of Mr Netanyahu. He argued that such students often joined radical Islamist circles and engaged in anti-Israel activity on campus.

However, the education ministry and Israel’s defence establishment argued that the opposite was true, and that there is a direct correlation between funding the student programmes in East Jerusalem and a decrease in militant activity.

Intelligence minister Gila Gamliel, also of Likud, called on Mr Smotrich to unfreeze the funds, saying that the “integration of the Arab population into academia holds social, economic and security importance”.

Opposition Labor Party leader Merav Michaeli accused Mr Smotrich of trying to “instigate a war between Jews and Arabs”.