Conflict Escalates Between Bnei Brak Municipality and Israel Tax Authority Over War Damage Compensation

The dispute between the Bnei Brak municipality and the Israel Tax Authority has intensified after Tax Authority Director Shay Aharonovitch ordered a freeze on processing war damage compensation claims for Bnei Brak residents. This move followed two incidents within two weeks where Tax Authority inspectors were attacked while working in the city. Aharonovitch conditioned the resumption of services on a formal public condemnation of the violence by Bnei Brak Mayor Hanoch Zeibert.

In response, four ultra-Orthodox Knesset members, Moshe Gafni, Uri Maklev, Yaakov Asher, and Yitzhak Pindrus, sent a sharply worded letter condemning the freeze as an unjust collective punishment targeting innocent residents unrelated to the attacks. They questioned whether any other city in Israel had faced such a decision and highlighted longstanding delays in handling residents’ claims unrelated to the recent violence.

The lawmakers emphasized that withholding basic services as a punitive measure is unacceptable and warned that such actions fuel incitement against the ultra-Orthodox community. They demanded that Aharonovitch immediately lift the freeze and stressed the need to separate law enforcement from the obligation to provide compensation, especially when claims are governed by wartime protocols.

The current crisis began after severe assaults on Tax Authority inspectors in Bnei Brak, including an incident in the Vizhnitz neighborhood where inspectors faced violence during a vehicle seizure, resulting in property damage and requiring police intervention. Aharonovitch’s insistence on a public denunciation through ultra-Orthodox media was rejected by community representatives, who viewed it as improper political interference.