Smotrich in the attack on the ombudsman: promoted in her position

The property tax fund storm reaches the High Court following a petition by the local authorities. Legal advisor to the government, Gali Beharve-Miara formulated the state’s response, which infuriated the Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who wants to represent himself before the local authorities.

We will explain that in light of the significant differences of opinion between the local authorities and the Ministry of Finance who want to establish a fund that will transfer property tax money from strong settlements to less strong settlements, the matter is brought to the High Court when the authorities claim the illegality of the move. .

The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich, who is pushing for the move, addressed a letter today to the government’s ombudsman in which he claims that he found out about the state’s answer through the media and she did not consult him before formulating the answer. Smotrich claims that Rabbi Miara is promoted to her position because any attorney who represents A client is supposed to consult him before submitting a response to the court, and this, Smotrich is wrong, the ombudsman did not do, hence his claim of misappropriation of her position.

In his letter, Smotritz asks the ombudsman to represent himself at the High Court and not to receive representation from the prosecutor’s office.

In the letter, Smotrich claims that the director general of his office contacted Asi Messing, the legal advisor to the Ministry of Finance, and requested that the state’s position be presented to the minister before it is submitted to the court, but according to the minister, this was not done. To my position as the Minister of Finance responding to the petition, without my position being heard in the discussion you held as the Office of the Director General of my Ministry requested (an outrageous fact that I only learned this morning), beyond the fact that it does not represent my position and the government’s position, it may cause great future damage to the country and the public, as long as a judicial decision is made that will be A precedent that will establish that such a wild strike is a legitimate means of struggle against the decisions of the government and the Knesset,” Smotrich writes.