A new twist to the ongoing saga of the investigation into
Barak's election amutot (nonprofit organizations) has
come to light recently. The local Jerusalem publication,
Kol Hair revealed that amutot which were set
up when Barak first became leader of the Labor Party,
receive funds from government budgets.
The paper's correspondent Gidi Weitz writes that one of the
most prominent amutot used by Barak during the last
elections was Yedid. Barak conceived the idea that this
amuta was to provide community services in outlying
areas in the spirit of the Labor Party, as part of the "new
priorities," which was one of his slogans in the election
campaign. The practical aim was attract votes from
population sectors which traditionally did not vote
Labor.
The force behind the amuta was Yuli Tamir, who would
afterwards become Barak's personal appointee as Minister of
Absorption. All those sources cited in the State-
Comptroller's Report as having financed Barak's campaign,
were also only too happy to contribute funds to Yedid. Take,
for example, the Rabin Alliance amuta, one of whose
senior members was Barak's brother-in-law, Advocate Doron
Cohen. The Kahanof Fund, which was also mentioned in the
Comptroller's Report as one of the conduits through which
funds were transferred for Barak's election campaign, also
donated large sums to Yedid.
Weitz writes that after she was appointed Minister, Tamir
resigned from the amuta, but did not forget Yedid. It
turns out that the Immigration and Absorption Ministry hands
out to the amuta funds of scandalous proportions from
government budgets: 307,000 NIS a year. A few months ago Kol
Hair revealed that the amuta known as Alternativa
whose leading members were pro-Barak activists during the
elections, were allocated funds amounting to 225 thousand
NIS.
As a result of the publication of this report, Limor Livnat
(Likud) filed a complaint with the Attorney General
Rubinstein, who instructed the Absorption Ministry to
investigate the matter. "It looks like the Labor Party will
not be able to shake off the amutot episode," writes
the paper.
The Absorption Ministry, in its response to Kal Hair, says
that the Ministry supports Amutot and organizations in
accordance with criteria authorized by the Attorney General.
These criteria are published every year, and every amuta
is entitled to submit a request for support. Amutot
whose requests are accepted receive funds only after
presenting reports on all the activities they need to
undertake in accordance with the criteria. Activities
authorized by the Ministry are in the social and absorption
fields, as well as aid to immigrants.
Any Amuta requesting assistance from the Ministry, has to
sign a form which includes an undertaking not to use any
funds for political activities. Yedid, which received 307
thousand NIS, deals with setting up information centers for
new immigrants, community services, youth volunteer services
and current events. Alternativa, which received 225 thousand
NIS, deals with the establishment of information centers.
These explanations did not satisfy the Attorney General, who
instructed the Ministry to freeze all transfer of funds to
Alternativa, which had helped Ehud Barak during the last
elections, until after the upcoming elections. "As for the
affairs of the amuta [Alternativa], writes
Rubinstein, "we have established that it made a forbidden
contribution to the One Israel Party. It should be pointed
out that at the time it had not received any funds from the
Ministry." Taking all the circumstances into consideration,
the Attorney General decided that the amuta would be
eligible to receive further funds after the current election
period, if it met all the required standards. Kol Hair
comments on this: "The Labor Party now has another reason to
attack Rubinstein in its election campaign!"
The Kahanof Fund, which pumped money into the other Amuta,
Yedid, was also a major contributor to Barak's last election
campaign. Kol Hair also managed to obtain an internal
document of this Fund, which includes a list of amutot
financed by it, some of which are currently being
investigated. This interesting list includes amutot
such as Rovad, Besura, Dor Shalom, Yedid and others. The
paper remarks, "Guess what all these have in common!"
It seems that the undertaking to refrain from political
activities is not worth the paper it is written on. Nobody
paid much attention to these funds until now. How many more
budget funds were poured into political purposes? We await
the next installment of revelations.
