Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich opposes compensating Israelis who were stranded abroad during the war with Iran in June, the Knesset Finance Committee was told on Sunday.
The Finance Ministry’s decision will also impact airlines, which will not receive compensation for the monetary losses sustained during the 12-day war with Iran, known as Operation Rising Lion.
The decision to reject compensating Israelis was met with strong opposition from some members of the Knesset Finance Committee, who voted against it and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reevaluate the issue.
During the war with Iran, Israel’s skies and airport were shut down, causing between 100,000 and 150,000 Israelis to be stranded abroad without knowing when they would be able to return.
The Finance Committee meeting was attended by a representative from the Finance Ministry and representatives from Arika, El Al, and Israir airlines.
Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) was opposed to the compensation framework, the Finance Ministry’s Daniel Shwartz said at the meeting.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev (Likud) “has the authority to limit the compensation to just two days, and she can decide based on her discretion.”
Compensation beyond the first two days of the war would be hundreds of millions of shekels, Schwartz said.
Finance Committee chairman David Bitan (Likud) criticized Smotrich’s decision and asked Shwartz if it seemed reasonable.
“You compensate workers and the entire economy, but not the airlines and citizens who got stuck?” he asked.
Bitan said Smotrich’s decision was scandalous, and ultimately, “you [the government] will pay, because the responsibility is yours in every sense of the word.”
The committee would take steps to oppose the decision, he said.
Representatives of the airlines described the financial losses that had been caused by the war.
The airlines had been ordered to fly empty planes and evacuate passengers, and therefore, they “need to be compensated separately,” Arika’s attorney Raz Nizri said.
“This is direct damage – a classic case that requires tailoring a compensation suit,” he said.
Israir’s CEO said dozens of flights had been canceled during the war, and the company’s planes were required to be transferred abroad.
The committee member drafted a proposal to oppose Smotrich’s decision and unanimously approved it.
The legal proceedings expected from Smotrich’s decision would “create a burden on the judicial system,” the proposal said.
They could amount to additional financial costs that end up being more than would have been allocated for compensation, it said.
The proposal also supported Israeli airlines and said they were entitled to compensation because they were ordered by the government to transfer their planes abroad and operate evacuation flights.
“Regarding passengers, it is clear that it is unjustified and unreasonable to expect them to bear significant costs due to a military operation initiated by the state,” the proposal said.
During the meeting, Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak criticized Smotrich for the decision and accused him of “transferring tens of billions of shekels in humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
“In recent months, the finance minister found NIS 3.7 billion to transfer aid to Gaza,” he said. “If these were evacuees from Kedumim [a settlement in Samaria], he would have found the money.”
'Arrogant and detached'
“This is a finance minister who is arrogant and detached,” Beliak said.. “People must be compensated, and we must insist on this, both from the coalition and opposition.”
Yesh Atid MK Shelly Tal Meron said Smotrich’s decision to not approve compensation was suspicious.
On Sunday, Smotrich said he was opposed to Netanyahu’s Gaza occupation plan.
“Maybe Netanyahu cannot handle the internal and external pressures and make the right decision,” Smotrich said.
During an interview with Kan Reshet Bet, he confirmed reports that he intends to secure about NIS 3b. for the establishment of additional humanitarian aid distribution centers in the Gaza Strip.
Smotrich said his plan was for “large parts of Gaza to remain under our control and sovereignty, and we can also settle there because this is the only way to maintain security.”