The state budget was approved this week, and this is definitely good news for the country and its citizens. The budget is expected to squeak by in the Knesset, after serious battles.
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The budget allocates some 30 billion shekels ($9.3 billion) to the Arab sector, and the money – which exists only on paper – has been the cause for much rejoicing and cries of victory.
It's being called "history" and a "precedent-setting achievement," all to impress the Arab citizens of Israel. But what isn't explained in the budget is that the sum is for five years, not merely until the next state budget, which cuts it back to 5 billion shekels ($1.6 billion) per year.
Many politicians, particularly Arabs in the coalition, are selling the approval of the budget as a historic win for Arab, Druze, and Circassian Israelis. They are creating huge expectations in the Arab sector that that government, through these politicians, is about to start handing out funds earmarked for the Arabs, which is both illegal and unrealistic.
The people in the Treasury, the cabinet, and all the MKs – Jews and Arabs from all factions – all agree that the Arab sector needs tens of billions in funding to catch up to the Jewish sector. This has been government policy over the past two decades, especially after Israel officially became a member of the OECD and discovered that its Arab and Haredi societies are weighing down the country's social and economic standing.
However, approving a budget of 33 billion shekels is neither realistic nor feasible, for a few reasons. First, the money from the education, public security, and housing ministries, among others, cannot be considered "earmarked" for the Arab sector, if those ministries are already addressing matters that affect all citizens. There is no "achievement" here, and funding for Arab students that they should already be getting can in no way be considered "a historic success."
The second reason: The Arab sector's experience with the 922 plan for economic development, which was passed by the Netanyahu government, has proven that no more than 60% of an actual "earmarked" budget was used, for various reasons.
And third, possibly most important – the budget funds are assigned to Arab local authorities or government authorities, not to organizations or other entities. It's highly unlikely that Arab local authorities could handle funds of this amount, especially given the lack of professional staff or their inability to meet other criteria.
In Israel, it's possible to make a lot of decisions that cannot be implemented, mostly because of the involvement of different players, government authorities, local authorities, ministries, and lots of bureaucracy. Experience from the not-too-distant past shows us that it's possible to talk about big numbers, but what happens on the ground is much smaller than any number the government can approve.
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