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NEWS
State Budget Does Not Include Aid for Farmers During
Shmittah
By Eliezer Rauchberger
The state budget recently tabled in the Knesset does not
include funding to assist farmers during the Shmittah year,
which begins in the middle of the fiscal year on Rosh
Hashonoh 5768.
During the previous Shmittah year, following UTJ demands, the
State provided farmers monetary aid through Agriculture
Ministry funds. The 2007 budget makes no mention of funding
for farmers during Shmittah despite Shas' presence in the
coalition. MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni criticized the party for not
seeing to the needs of farmers by trying to include a
paragraph in the Education Ministry budget that would make
monetary aid available to shomrei Shevi'is farmers.
"I can understand that Finance Ministry officials have
forgotten next year is a Shmittah year," said Rabbi Gafni,
"and therefore they did not include a paragraph in the budget
stipulating funding for this. But how can the four Shas
ministers in the government not see to the matter of
including a paragraph for Shmittah observant farmers?"
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