Arab mayors in Israel strike against unfair distribution of pandemic funding

Arab Israeli local councils began a one-day strike this morning against the government's failure to allocate enough funds to compensate for their losses due to the novel coronavirus crisis. A committee of Arab Israeli council heads condemned the government's distribution of compensation to local governance for the loss of property tax payments from business owners who were forced to their close doors by coronavirus restrictions. They say that the compensation was distributed disproportionately, discriminating against the Arab localities.  

Last week, the Arab council heads sent a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, warning that unemployment among Arab Israelis has surpassed 40% as businesses close down one after another. The letter also states that the Arab municipalities received only 47 million shekels ($13 million), less than 2% of the total compensation funds for Israeli localities, for a public that constitutes about 20% of the country’s population.

On May 4, Arab leaders and Knesset members demonstrated in front of the Finance Ministry, demanding increased compensation. Joint List Knesset member Yousef Jabareen tweeted, "Together with dozens of heads of Arab local councils we are standing in front of the Ministry of Finance — an outcry by Arab society over criminal neglect that will lead to collapse."

The Knesset’s Finance Committee convened on May 4 for a special discussion on the issue, but no miracle solutions were presented. Joint List Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, who led the meeting, said that Arab councils have been punished twice over, explaining that the state has neglected these towns and villages for years and avoided developing industrial and commercial zones within their boundaries. Thus, unemployment is currently at an all-time high. And now the pandemic compensation is being allotted mainly to the localities with industrial zones — Jewish localities.