Prime Minister Netanyahu presents a new financial assistance plan -- An election bribe

On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Israel Katz presented an election bribe that the Attorney General opposes. This is a new economic plan. The plan has not been coordinated with the Ministry of Finance or the Ministry of Justice, and is expected to face legal opposition in light of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit's position against the launch of economic plans during the election period, which was sent to the Minister of Finance last week.
The plan was presented at a press conference by Netanyahu and Katz in the Knesset, convened by a Likud spokesman and not by a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Finance and the Prime Minister's Office as is customary. The program includes nine steps to boost the economy, with much of the assistance going to small and medium-sized businesses and job seekers in the economy. Netanyahu denied the allegations about the election economy. "Why is this an election economy? Because it helps the citizens of Israel?" He wondered.
"The corona is not being stopped, and I do not imagine anyone daring to harm the welfare of businesses in Israel because there are elections," the prime minister added. "It's not an election economy, it's a vital need." Netanyahu said he would bring the plan to the approval of the government and the Knesset, adding that he was sure it would receive support, because the parties would not want to harm Israeli citizens, their money and their livelihoods.
If Blue and White opposes the plan, Netanyahu will not be able to bring it to the government's approval in any case because the consent of both parties is required for every issue on the agenda. "If the plan is not approved now, it will be postponed for many months until the next government is formed," Netanyahu clarified. "People can not wait, so we continue to act even now."
Netanyahu referred to the ombudsman's position against approving economic plans during the election campaign, and asked: "What kind of regime did we get, that advisers and legal officials tell us what to do?" It is time for us to become a reformed democracy. "
Blue and White Chairman and Defense Minister Bnei Gantz attacked Netanyahu and Katz's intention to present this economic plan. "Netanyahu's economic plan is a display of indulgence," he wrote on Twitter. Netanyahu and his envoys physically prevented them. "After the election, we will make sure that the government of honest people can be trusted to care about the economy, not even in an election campaign."
Minister Katz presented the measures proposed in the plan. In the first phase, a grant will be given to businesses that are affected by 25% or more of the revenues. Businesses that opened in 2020 will also receive a grant of NIS 8,000. In the second phase, a household grant of up to the seventh decile will be given: NIS 750 per adult, and NIS 500 per child up to the fourth child, as well as NIS 300 per fifth child or older.
Additional measures introduced in the program are a stimulus for returning veteran Corona unemployed to work as well as a stimulus for employers to absorb them. A special grant for the disabled will be given in the amount of half a billion shekels, and it will also be possible to spread VAT for the relief of small and medium-sized businesses, relief for business loans, increase loans, spread and extend the repayment of loans.
Other measures presented by the Minister of Finance are the reduction of regulation and reform to increase investment. Unemployment benefits will also be given to the self-employed, with Katz promising that this step will be brought to the Knesset Labor Committee this week. The average salary of those who receive a grant is NIS 12,000-13,000. According to Katz, the grant is intended to enable purchase when the business opens.
In addition to Blue and White, who announced that they would oppose the approval of Netanyahu and Katz's plan, she also received much criticism from the opposition. Right-wing chairman Naftali Bennett said, "When you could do all these beautiful things, you chose not to pass a budget and prevented everything." He said, "If the people of Israel could feed their children the promises of this bad government, there would not be thousands of people hungry for bread. ".
The chairman of Yisrael Beiteinu, Avigdor Lieberman, also attacked the plan presented by the prime minister and the finance minister. In March we will all have to deal with the consequences.
"Our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who have not yet been born, do not deserve to deal with the loans that Netanyahu takes for his election bribery policy."
The Israeli party said that "economic plans are not, at most, cynical propaganda. The man responsible for the Yom Kippur failure of the Israeli economy, who prevented the transfer of a state budget from his personal motives just to try to escape trial, is now facing the public and laughing.
Along with Netanyahu and Katz, Gideon Saar also presented his own economic plan. The main points of the program are to encourage return to work through grants and benefits for employers who return workers, as well as for workers who return to the labor market. Granting a social safety net and grants for returning to the routine of businesses affected by the Corona crisis, and closing the productivity gap with the West and raising the average wage to NIS 13,500 within four years.
It was also presented in Saar's economic plan, lowering import barriers and creating incentives for exports, with the aim of opening new businesses at a rate of 20% per year. Increasing investment in infrastructure in collaboration with the private sector by 35% per year. Also, creating a program to encourage the immigration of 250,000 immigrants in the next five years. According to the plan, the economy is expected to return to growth at a rate of 23% over the next five years.
Saar clarified that "Israel can develop and succeed much more. In order to do that, we need to rehabilitate the economy and renew growth." He said, "Especially now during the corona crisis, significant reforms, which have not been implemented for years, must be resolutely pursued."