Israel's government ministries 'non-functional' during war with Hamas - official

Most government ministries have been derelict and nonfunctional since the war with Hamas began, Federation of Local Authorities in Israel chairman Haim Bibas said Saturday night.

“There’s the Defense Ministry, with whom we’ve been communicating,” he told the N12 news site. “There’s the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, which from the beginning has worked mainly with families of murdered and missing people and everything concerned with that. The Tourism Ministry is a little involved with evacuation, and that’s it. The rest have disappeared.”

Finance Ministry not budgeting for evacuations, equipment

The Finance Ministry was the main ministry not working, Bibas said, adding that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionist Party) has not been giving the local authorities adequate budgets for evacuations and equipment.

“The Finance Ministry should have been the first to adopt the plans we drew up,” he said. “They need to let go of bureaucracy. Now is the time for the Finance Ministry to draw up a full plan for evacuation and equipment until the end of the year.”

The local authorities have had to fund evacuations and take care of their residents from their own pockets without help from the Finance Ministry, Bibas said.

“I understand that we were all in shock after what happened,” he said. “The army took a day or two to recover; the local authorities took a day or two to recover. Most government ministries still haven’t come to their senses; they don’t understand the situation.”

The problem was that there are too many ministries, and they are being run by people with no experience, Bibas said.

“Most of them have gone underground,” he said. “Most of the ministries aren’t functioning. Some of the [ministers] are inexperienced, and some don’t understand their jobs because they’ve been split into all these different extensions. The time has come for them to come to their senses, stop all the power games, and let go of bureaucracy.”

Last week, Bibas said the government should give local authorities that were affected and those that are hosting the evacuees immediate grants. He also called for development grants, a directive to release any funds intended for the local authorities, overtime pay for social workers, and maintenance funds for shelters.