"They talked a lot about other things, like yeshivot, but Eli Yishai never asked for more for the firefighters."
"It's nonsense. Everything they asked for, they received," is how a senior Ministry of Finance official responded today to claims by the Ministry of the Interior that budgets had dried up. "They asked for a NIS 100 million supplement we gave NIS 40 million we had to provide, and budgeted for the NIS 30 million that the Ministry of the Interior had to contribute. During all the discussion on the budget, they never asked for another cent beyond implementing the government's decision. They talked a lot about other things, like yeshivot, but he (Eli Yishai) never asked for more for the firefighters."
According to the official, in accordance with the government decision allocating NIS 100 million, the Ministry of the Interior was supposed to submit a bill for forming a national firefighting authority, but "it did not submit the bill, and four months have passed." The Ministry of Finance also points out that the firefighting budget was exempted from across the board cuts.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 6, 2010
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