Pro-Israel groups lobby the Ministry of Finance, which cancels the planned tax breaks for anti-Israel organizations that operate in Palestinian areas of Judea and Samaria
By Yakir Benzion, United With Israel
Israel’s Finance Ministry announced last month that it is cancelling a plan to grant a fuel-tax exemption to “international aid NGOs” that operate in the Palestinian Authority.
The Im Tirtzu organization collaborated with other pro-Israel advocacy organizations, including the Choosing Life Forum of Bereaved Families and NGO Monitor, who let the members of the Knesset Finance Committee know that several of the NGOs that would have benefited from the tax break are involved in anti-Israel activities.
A vote on the tax break was postponed when members of the Finance Committee learned about the connection and voice their own concerns.
The Finance Ministry eventually announced that it was cancelling the plans for the tax break.
Some of the NGOs (non-government organizations) that would have received the tax exemption are “Diakonia” and the “Mennonite Central Committee,” which fund NGOs that support BDS and have ties to terrorist groups, and the “Lutheran World Federation” and the “Catholic Relief Services” that promote highly politicized anti-Israel rhetoric and projects.
“This was an anti-humanitarian act against the people of Israel,” said Likud MK Keti Shitrit, who was among the leading members of the Finance Committee to oppose the measure. She was ecstatic with the ministry announcement.
“If we are going to grant exemptions to these international ‘aid’ organizations, let them first provide us with information about the bodies of the kidnapped IDF soldiers and information about the Israeli citizens who are being held captive by Hamas.”
Likud MK Nir Barkat, who also led the opposition to the measure, stated: “Organizations that support terrorism and work against the state will receive fines rather than rewards.”
Im Tirtzu praised “members of the Finance Committee and MK Keti Shitrit for their staunch work to cancel this tax-break for anti-Israel NGOs.”
“It is unfathomable to help those who work day and night to harm Israel, and we will continue working hard to ensure that this never happens again,” Im Tirtzu said in a press release.
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