The Committee for Oversight of the Fund for the Citizens of Israel (Sovereign Wealth Fund), which is responsible for the profits brought in from Israel’s new natural gas reserves, held a vote Tuesday on the amount of the annual allocation from the Fund towards the Citizens of Israel and transferred 35 million NIS for the establishment of housing for mentally challenged people, and an additional 75 million NIS for constructing youth movement establishments in the underdeveloped Israeli periphery.
The chairman of the committee MK Limor Son Har-Melech said at the beginning of the meeting: "I am excited that finally after many meetings in which we heard the members of the Knesset and the ministers, the professionals, those struggling, and other important guests, we finally got to the vote. Today we make the world a little better. From the beginning, I announced that the committee would not be the government's pocketbook and the budget that would be discussed would be for programs outside of the box."
MK Son Har-Melech thanked the committee's staff, including the committee's director Nathalie Shelf, the committee's legal advisor Tamar Bentura, the Minister of Finance Bezalel Smotrich and his deputy, Michal Waldiger, and the members of the Knesset from the coalition and the opposition who participated in the discussions.
After the vote, MK Son Har-Melech concluded: "This is a holiday. I thank all the members of the Knesset who supported the allocation of the budget for these important purposes and hope that in the coming years, the fund's budget will increase and allow us to allocate funds for other important purposes defined in the fund's budget such as research and development, encouraging employment in the Negev, which are important goals."
The Citizens of Israel Fund, also known as the Wealth Fund, is a sovereign wealth fund whose purpose is to manage the income of the State of Israel from the levy imposed on profits derived from its natural resources, including natural gas, and any other natural assets, from a long-term economic perspective with the aim of enabling the continued existence of the fund for many generations.
According to the proposal for the law that created the fund: “The significant gas reserves that have been discovered in recent years in the maritime space off the coast of the State of Israel and the possibility of finding additional gas and oil discoveries in the future have the potential to have a significant economic impact on the Israeli economy. Natural resources are of great importance to the future of Israeli society and the economy, and the role of the state is to ensure that these limited and perishable resources are used in a way that yields maximum benefit to all citizens of the country.”
