Minister of the Negev, the Galilee, and National Resilience Yitzchak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit) criticized Finance Minister Bezalel (Religious Zionists) Smotrich in a tweet on Sunday.
He claimed that Smotrich transferred hundreds of millions of shekels that had been intended for the Negev and the Galilee to other purposes.
“When we left the government, Bezalel Smotrich did a very ugly thing. He took hundreds of millions of shekels that had been intended for the Ministry of the Negev and the Galilee and transferred them to all sorts of things. God knows what he did with them.”
Wasserlauf wrote that upon his party’s return to government he demanded the budget be restored, “When we returned to the government, I sent him a message that this budget is not his, so I demand he return it immediately. As usual , he ignored me, or rather he ignored those who live in the most deprived areas.”
He added that the move will directly harm Israelis. “My ministry will have to cut basic programs for the residents of the Negev and the Galilee in order to feed the schemes of the Finance Minister.”
Wasserlauf claimed that Otzma Yehudit party chairman, Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir instructed the party’s ministers to oppose today’s vote on increasing the deficit until the situation is corrected.
At the end he addressed the Finance Minister directly. “Bezalel, if you want some kind of political gain, go ahead and take credit for my projects – but give the residents of these areas what is due to them.”
The Finance Ministry rejected Wasserlauf’s claims. Senior officials said, “The truth is that not a single shekel was cut when Otzma Yehudit left the coalition. The cut was made two weeks ago to fund security expenses. It was applied to the Ministry of the Negev and the Galilee just as it applies to the 2026 budget overall.”
The officials added, “Wasserlauf talks about hundreds of millions when his entire budget is only on the order of 250-300 million shekels. The only budget cut in 2025 was the one Otzma Yehudit themselves brought to the government last week following the mismanagement of school security funds at the Ministry of National Security.”
The Finance Ministry said the attack is political, “He wants to extort additional coalition funds because in the 2025 budget Otzma was out. When they entered the government they signed a new agreement, but according to officials in the Ministry of the Negev and the Galilee, we didn’t save their old budget for them.”
They further noted that the votes brought to the government today concern a war budget, a budget for victims of hostile actions and a budget for reservists, and added, “When Otzma Yehudit ministers again make an opposition-style appearance, they hurt this whole slate.”