Minister of Housing (Shas) Ariel Atias has significantly increased the amount of funding allocated to religious institutions, to the tune of 900% as compared to previous years according to a Channel 10 News report.
According to the report, beginning in 2008 the budget allocated for shuls and mikvaos in the Ministry of Housing was 2 – 2.5 million NIS. These funds were taken from the budget for building public buildings. The report adds that in the last year, Atias increased the budget for religious institutions by 900%, to 24 million NIS.
When interviewed in the shadow of the report, Atias made no apologies, standing firm in defense of his decision. Atias explained shuls and mikvaos are โpublic buildingsโ and therefore, he did nothing wrong. He added that when his ministry builds a neighborhood it takes everything into consideration, community center as well as shuls and mikvaos, unlike others who ignore the religious public buildings.
(YWN โ Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Please keep in mind that these funds come from Israeli taxpayers’ money, many of whom are non religious/chilonim, etc….This gives them great merit for enabling a Torah community to thrive. Stop the chiloni, Zionist bashing.