Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and KKL-JNF Chair of the Board Yifat Ovadia-Lusky today (Sunday) signed an agreement between the Ministry of Finance and the KKL-JNF. Present at the signing, which took place at the Ministry of Finance, were the Ministry of Finance Staff, Ministry Director General Shlomi Heisler, Budgeting Division Head Yogev Gardus, Ministry Attorney General Assi Messing and Matan Yagel, Real Estate Coordinator. From KKL-JNF were present, beside the Chair, Fellow Chairman Former Minister Yitzhak Vaknin, KKL-JNF Director General Amnon Ben Ami, Attorney General Adv. Shimi Brown and Head of Finance Division Yuval Yeini.
Earlier in the morning, the KKL-JNF Board of Directors approved the Agreement, which was reached following intensive negotiations with the Ministry of Finance these past months.
Under the agreement, over a period of five years beginning in January 2023 through to December 2027, the KKL-JNF will take part in projects in lieu of State Budget in the KKL-JNF’s business areas. The total share of KKL-JNF throughout the Agreement Period is NIS 6 billion, of which KKL-JNF will be permitted to offset up to NIS 1.2 billion from its tax remittances. The KKL-JNF share in 2023-24 is expected to be approximately NIS 2 billion per year. According to this agreement, the KKL-JNF share in the projects is above and beyond the tax remittances they have been paying since 2018.
It is made clear that the budgets KKL-JNF will be remitting will not be used for rolling out coalition agreements, but rather they will be allocated to the work and activities which are at the core of KKL-JNF’s vision, which includes development of settlement, land improvement, absorbing immigration, reducing disparities in the periphery and numerous other projects which include cultivation of forestry and nature recreation parks, trail building, planting and environmental projects.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lauded the agreement and said: “This accomplishment is a credit to the citizens of Israel. It is an excellent important historic agreement and I am delighted with it. KKL-JNF is one of our national institutions; over the years it has played an integral role in our nation-building and its development. I thank the KKL-JNF Chair and its members for approving the agreement, which will boost projects of national importance for settlement, in the periphery and favoring the environment and I am confident it will be of great help to the citizens of Israel”.
KKL-JNF BOD Chair Yifat Ovadia-Lusky also expressed her satisfaction and said: “Ever since the inception of Zionism and to this day, KKL-JNF has been a partner in the building and development of the State. I am delighted that with this agreement, KKL-JNF will continue to be a partner in the building and development of the State of Israel. The entire budget will be used for national projects at the core of the KKL-JNF’s work. We will continue to strengthen the State just as we have done since the earliest days of Zionism, through to this present day and into the future”.