Criticism grew within both the coalition and opposition on Sunday over comments made by Housing Minister Yizhak Goldknopf last week, that he shifted housing projects in Beit Shemesh intended for non-haredi citizens to the haredi populace.
Goldknopf, who spoke at the Beit Shemesh Education Conference on Tuesday, said in his speech, “Also what they thought would go to the general public, we found some way to allocate to the haredi public, not everything can be talked about.”
Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli sharply criticized Goldknopf in a post on X on Friday, and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to replace him.
Chikli wrote that the situation had “reached a breaking point” and that Goldkopf’s actions were “malicious and cunning discrimination against the general public.”
“It is impossible to justify continued partnership with a Housing Minister who is indifferent to the citizens of Israel, who does not care about reservists,” Chikli said, arguing that Goldknopf had prioritized housing for haredim over housing for IDF reservists. He pressed Netanyahu to appoint a new minister from one of the Zionist parties.
Letter to A-G
Opposition MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid) demanded in a letter on Sunday to Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara that she open a criminal investigation into Goldknopf’s actions, over fraud and breach of trust. Beliak claimed that Goldknopf had made “many similar comments” since taking office.
Yisrael Beytenu MK Yulia Malinovsky later sent a similar demand, which she made out to both Baharav-Miara and State Comptroller Matanyahu Engelman.
