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
Berlin says plans to host Sudan aid conference
- The conference would be held around the anniversary of the2023 outbreak of the civil war in April
- Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025
BERLIN: Germany plans to host a Sudan aid conference in the spring to raise emergency relief funds for the war-torn country, the foreign ministry said on Friday.
Brutal fighting between Sudanese government forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated the country, with reports of atrocities, starvation and mass killings.
“Today, the world commemorates a sad date: 1,000 days of war in Sudan,” a foreign ministry spokeswoman said. “Far too many people continue to suffer and die there, victims of hunger, thirst, displacement and rape.”
The conference would be held around the anniversary of the 2023 outbreak of the civil war in April, the spokeswoman said.
Previous Sudan aid conferences were held in Paris in 2024 and London in 2025.
“The world’s largest humanitarian crisis has already driven millions of civilians into poverty and many tens of thousands to their deaths,” the spokeswoman said.
“Germany is doing everything in its power, both politically and in humanitarian terms, to help the people on the ground and to end the fighting.”
International calls for a ceasefire have so far failed to halt the fighting between Sudan’s army-aligned government and the RSF, which is descended from the Janjaweed militias accused of genocide in Darfur two decades ago.
Both sides have faced war crimes accusations over the course of the conflict.
