Promises...promises: Prime Minister Netanyahu presented the much-awaited assistance plan

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented the much-awaited plan with Finance Minister Israel Katz on Thursday evening. Netanyahu took responsibility and admitted that the opening of the economy may have been premature. He delayed the transfer of funds to the business owners, and pledged that bureaucrats would be handed over to the self-employed as early as next week.
Netanyahu emphasized: "We are in the midst of a second wave of the Corona. It has come to us and it has reached other countries as well. In my estimation, it will not pass on almost any country. "We have had a success in the first wave of the Corona. As a result, we have lowered our morbidity data to a handful of contaminants a day."
 Prime Minister Olmert said the economy was in retrospect too hasty: "Looking back as part of trial and error, it can be said that this last step was too early. Why did you open? ' We didn't do it because of it, because we listened to your distress, to get as much of you back into the workforce as possible, and I take responsibility for fixing it, and I took responsibility for fixing it. ".
PM Olmert summarized the essentials of the aid program with Finance Minister Israel Katz. The program includes a social security network for employees and self-employed persons in addition to an economic security network for businesses until 2021. This is to cease with patchwork aid programs and increase the certainty in the economy.
At a meeting between the prime minister and senior finance ministers, led by Minister Katz, it was promised that the Bezeq legislation will be drafted, which will be approved by the government this Sunday and submitted to the Knesset on Monday to allow regular payments to salaried employees and self-employed persons. It should be noted that up to now NIS 100 billion of aid has been promised, but only about half of it has been injected into the economy.
This evening, Netanyahu promised that grants of up to NIS 7,500 will be handed over to self-employed and business owners as early as next week: "We will give the money to those people who helped them in early May without new conditions and immediate payment."
When he explained where the money would come from to fund the plan, Netanyahu said: "Israel's economy is very solid. It gives us the ability to borrow money at low interest rates." The Prime Minister did not mention the current Governor of the Bank of Israel, Amir Yaron, but explained that he spoke with former Governor of the Bank Stanley Fischer: "Fisher told me yesterday: 'This is a unique situation. Today you can borrow money at very low interest rates."
Netanyahu also addressed the issue of the budget period over which there is a controversy with blue and white: "All economists without exception say to bring a budget fast until the end of the year. What to do. Pass a budget and at the same time the Corona package. "
Finance Minister Israel Katz presented the details of the plan, saying: "We are here to make sure that there will be no one who will not receive the answer or financial security during the difficult times we face. This plan did indeed produce lessons from those programs that accompanied us even at the beginning of the crisis. You or the unemployed will receive improved unemployment benefits. We eased the conditions. A safety net for self-employed and business owners is provided. "
Katz addressed the frustration of business owners: "Some people show up in the middle of the night in front of my house and I hug them. People act out of fear and pain. I honestly say, people have no reason to demonstrate - here are all the answers."
Reducing the eligibility threshold and other steps increased the scope of the aid package to NIS 90 billion, of which about NIS 60 billion and the balance of credit from financial bodies - while yesterday the total package seemed to be NIS 75 billion, of which NIS 50 billion was budgeted.
Yesterday, it was announced that the benefit package would include improved unemployment benefits for employees posted to the UAV from January 2020 through June 2021, when the five-day waiting period between unemployment periods would be abolished, the training period would be shortened from 12 months to 6 months, and the minimum period for eligibility would be shortened to 30 days. .
It was also agreed that the National Insurance Allowances will be offset for the entire period and that the NIS 4,000 adjustment grants will be given to those aged 67 and over by December 2020.
Self-employed and self-employed employees will receive grants once every two months until June 2021, when the number of grants depends on the monthly cycle. It is estimated that a business with an annual turnover of up to NIS 300,000 will receive an aid grant to the business of NIS 3,000-6,000 per month, and for businesses with an annual turnover of between NIS 300,000 and NIS 100,000, there will be a fixed reimbursement allowance of up to NIS 500,000 per month.
In addition, an additional social grant will be provided, which will amount to 70% of taxable income and up to NIS 15,000 per grant for taxable annual income of up to NIS 640,000. Instead of being exempted from the municipal tax as provided for in the first aid package, a municipal property grant will be granted - only to businesses that are affected for businesses with turnover of up to NIS 100 million.
Chairman Yair Lapid addressed Prime Minister Netanyahu's remarks, saying: "Netanyahu's claim that treatment of the corona's health is a 'huge success' is a dangerous contradiction to the morbidity data and the complete failure of the epidemiological investigation and investigation. His remarks about the economy are hollow and do not stand the test. Those who formed a government of 36 ministers and 16 deputy ministers and in the midst of the crisis dealt mainly with his own tax benefits, which would not tell us about 'taking full responsibility'. His complaints about the government bureaucracy raise the question of who was the Israeli prime minister for the last 11 years? He dropped unemployment benefits for the self-employed, as he recalled, two weeks ago. Regarding the grants - most of the public is still waiting for the previous two beats. Hopefully this time it will look different. "