JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged on Wednesday to release at least $54 million to Arab towns after his finance minister’s decision to withhold them drew accusations of racism.
Netanhayu said the money would be transferred after a review but gave no details on what that would entail or how long it would take. His spokesperson declined further comment.
“Israel’s Arab citizens deserve what all citizens do and I’m committed to this. I demand this of all government ministries and it will be carried out following an evaluation to ensure that funds are transferred for their designated purpose – Israel’s Arab citizens,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
At the same time, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich doubled down on the fund freeze at a press briefing.
Echoing his earlier announcement, Smotrich, a member of Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist coalition, told reporters on Wednesday that he was withholding budget funds marked for Arab local councils out of fear that the money would end up in the hands of criminals and terrorists.
Arab community leaders said the minister was guided by racism.
“The finance minister is continuing his campaign of incitement against Arab society and its elected leaders,” said the National Committee of Arab Local Councils in Israel.
Arab citizens, most of whom are descendants of Palestinians who stayed in the new Israeli state after the 1948 war surrounding its creation, make up about a fifth of Israel’s population.
Palestinian citizens in Israel have for decades faced social and economic disparities with Jewish citizens, including high poverty, overcrowding, inadequate infrastructure and poorly funded schools.
The funding, earmarked for basic services and development in 67 Arab local councils, is an effort to correct years of insufficient budget allocations and to narrow the gaps between Jewish Israeli and Palestinian communities, said Ameer Bisharat, CEO of the National Committee of Arab Local Councils in Israel.
Israel’s Netanyahu pledges to unfreeze funds for Arab towns
https://arab.news/mv6ef
Israel’s Netanyahu pledges to unfreeze funds for Arab towns
- Netanhayu said the money would be transferred after a review but gave no details
- Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich doubled down on the fund freeze
Ankara city hall says water cuts due to ‘record drought’
- Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara
ANKARA: Water cuts for the past several weeks in Turkiye’s capital were due to the worst drought in 50 years and an exploding population, a municipal official told AFP, rejecting accusations of mismanagement.
Dam reservoir levels have dropped to 1.12 percent and taps are being shut off for several hours a day in certain districts on a rotating schedule in Ankara, forcing many residents to line up at public fountains to fill pitchers.
“2025 was a record year in terms of drought. The amount of water feeding the dams fell to historically low levels, to 182 million cubic meters in 2025, compared with 400 to 600 million cubic meters in previous years. This is the driest period in the last 50 years,” said Memduh Akcay, director general of the Ankara municipal water authority.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the Ankara municipal authorities, led by the main opposition party, “incompetent.”
Rejecting this criticism, the city hall says Ankara is suffering from the effects of climate change and a growing population, which has doubled since the 1990s to nearly six million inhabitants.
“In addition to reduced precipitation, the irregularity of rainfall patterns, the decline in snowfall, and the rapid conversion of precipitation into runoff (due to urbanization) prevent the dams from refilling effectively,” Akcay said.
A new pumping system drawing water from below the required level in dams will ensure no water cuts this weekend, Ankara’s city hall said, but added that the problem would persist in the absence of sufficient rainfall.
Much of Turkiye experienced a historic drought in 2025. The municipality of Izmir, the country’s third-largest city on the Aegean coast, has imposed daily water cuts since last summer.
