Government transfers Interior Ministry powers to Netanyahu, but not the arson on annual property tax relief for draft evaders

On Monday, the Israeli government approved transferring several powers normally held by the interior minister to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it stopped short of giving him the authority needed to advance a measure that would strip property tax discounts from draft evaders. The move came even though the legal adviser to the government said failing to advance the step would violate a High Court ruling.

The transfer is meant to let Netanyahu approve decisions that cannot be implemented without this procedural authority, including matters involving infiltrators, foreign workers and planning issues. The arrangement has been used periodically in recent months since Shas left the government and there has been no permanent interior minister.

What made this case unusual, according to the report, is that the legal system had demanded the power be transferred as part of the package so the government could change the municipal tax criteria and impose sanctions on yeshiva students who evade military service. That specific authority was not included in Monday’s decision.

Last week, Deputy Attorney General Gil Limon wrote to Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs that the government was violating a High Court instruction by failing to transfer the powers to Netanyahu for the purpose of advancing the property tax cut revocation. He said the 35 days set by the court had expired more than two weeks earlier, yet the issue had still not been discussed at ministerial level because there is no serving interior minister and the authority had not been moved to Netanyahu or another minister. Limon wrote that not considering the benefit removal, contrary to the court’s decision, amounted to a judicial order violation.