Israeli minister allocated millions in ‘tourism’ funding to settlements

New figures obtained by the Israeli Movement for Freedom of Information have revealed the extent of Israeli government funding of illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

The figures showed that between 2016 and 2019, when current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in power, settlements received 3.5 times more funding than the rest of the country, with then-Tourism Minister Yariv Levin allocating nearly half of his development budget to settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

424 million shekels (US$112 million) were allocated to development projects in illegal settlements out of a total of 929 million shekels (US$245 million) in the entire ministry’s development budget.

Levin is currently the minister of justice in Netanyahu’s far-right coalition government and is seen as the architect of Israel’s controversial judicial overhaul.

Between 2016 and 2019, he allocated over 350 million Israeli shekels (US$92 million) to the far-right Elad association, which is working to change the demographic character of Jerusalem by taking over Palestinian sites in the Old City and the surrounding area. 84% of those funds went to development projects in East Jerusalem.

"This is a policy that seeks to divert tourists' interest from Western Jerusalem to Palestinian areas in sites located behind it or under the control of settlers in the Old City," a report by the Israeli group Peace Now said.

Under Levin’s tenure, Israeli settlements in the West Bank received 70% of the support funds they requested, while Palestinian towns and cities within Israel’s 1948 boundaries received only 13% and communities within Israel’s 1948 boundaries generally received 20%.

Israel has occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and currently over 700,000 settlers reside there in violation of international law.

Last week extreme-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich allocated US$180 million to illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, while freezing funding to Palestinian communities in Israel.