Confrontation in the Knesset Plenum between Ben Gabir and Arab MKs/Knesset Channel
The pressure worked: after last night Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter threatened to vote against the budget, following pressure exerted on him by the sweet potato growers in the Plant Council whose leader is a Likud center member, an urgent discussion on compensation for the sweet potato growers was scheduled to take place this coming Monday.
The discussion will be held in the finance committee at 1:00 p.m., and is intended to regulate the compensation for this group for losses suffered during the Corona period, this after two previous discussions held in the committee ended without operative results: the finance committee did determine that the sweet potato growers were entitled to compensation, but the Treasury's opposition thwarted this.
The pressure produced results.
"Mr. Sweet Potato", Guy David/Official website, Ikki Maimon, Photo Dino
The person behind the "sweet potato crisis" that delayed the approval of the budget is Guy David - known as "Mr. Sweet Potato".
David serves as the chairman of the Sweet Potato Growers Association, or in its official name - the Sweet Potato Growers Table in the Plant Council.
David, a fourth generation sweet potato grower, has been fighting for more than a year with the state to cover the losses suffered by the industry following the Corona crisis, and so far he has not been able to achieve any results. Finance Committee Twice as stated that they must be compensated - but the Treasury refused.
David, a member of the Likud Center, took advantage of the last line in the budget to apply pressure through the Minister of Agriculture, Avi Dichter, and the Chairman of the Economic Committee, David Bitan.
After a conversation between Dichter and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Dichter announced that he had decided to support the budget.
"The Prime Minister responded to the demand of Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter and pledged to resolve the crisis in the agriculture budget by Passover," the minister's office announced, and the budget was passed by a majority of 62 MKs.
David responded after the budget was passed: "It seems that after a long and persistent struggle, the sweet potato growers who suffered From huge losses as a result of the corona they will get what they deserve.
I would like to thank from the bottom of my heart the Minister of Agriculture Dichter and the Director General of the Ministry for the close assistance, and of course to all my fellow growers who expressed their trust and chose me to represent them."
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Netanyahu and Dichter.
"There is no conclusion, there is a discussion"/Reuven Castro
After the approval of the budget, an uproar broke out in the Knesset plenum, after members of the opposition asked Prime Minister Netanyahu and the chairman of the coalition, MK Ofir Katz, whether there were any additional summaries from the last few hours concerning the state budget, this against the background of the voting crisis with Minister Avi Dichter of the Likud and other members of the Knesset.
Netanyahu said no, and the members of the Knesset claimed that this was a lie and presented the announcement from Minister Dichter's office according to which Netanyahu committed to further summaries.
Netanyahu said in the plenum in this context: "There is no conclusion, there is a discussion."
The current budget has been heavily criticized due to the fact that it includes about NIS 5.5 billion of coalition funds - of which more than NIS 1 billion is for meetings and includes, about NIS 300 million for settlements and about NIS 600 million for ultra-Orthodox private educational institutions.
In addition, hundreds of millions of shekels were allocated to goals such as strengthening Jewish identity and heritage.
More on the same topic:
the state budget
Avi Dichter
sweet potatoes
agriculture
Finance Committee