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.
