The Fiji Times » Arab towns in Israel strike in protest at funding freeze fijitimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from fijitimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Arab local councils in Israel held a strike on Monday in protest at the finance minister's freeze earlier this month on hundreds of millions of shekels to their municipalities, a decision that has prompted accusations of racism. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's nationalist-religious government, suspended at least 200 million shekels ($52.75 million) of Arab municipal funds, saying that these could end up in the hands of what he called "criminal and terrorist elements". That the finance minister was casting Arabs as thieves and criminals was "ridiculous" and "false", the mayor of the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, Samir Mahameed, told Israeli Army Radio.
Palestinian councils in Israel have began a strike against the decision by far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to freeze much-needed funding for Palestinian municipalities.
Arab towns in Israel strike in protest at funding freeze reuters.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reuters.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.