Governing a State Cannot Run Through the Likud Central Committee

These days, the Knesset Finance Committee is discussing tax benefits, in which Likud representatives insist on approving a 7% tax benefit for the city of Ashkelon. The familiar “political bargaining” is underway—members of the Religious Zionism party, led by MK Tzvi Sukkot, condition their support on granting benefits to settlements. But what has Ashkelon done to deserve the tax break that Likud activists and their emissaries in the Knesset are fighting so hard to grant it? And why does it receive such a benefit while Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev, is denied it?

Ashkelon is not a development town. On the contrary—it is a growing and thriving city with an average demographic growth of 5.1%. In fact, Ashkelon has been growing for several years. It offers competitively priced housing, and recently the Canadian-Israeli investment group AWZ announced the establishment of a new chip factory in Ashkelon, at a tune of five billion shekels. All this with the encouragement of the Minister of Economy and Industry, Nir Barkat. The Prime Minister himself promised the city a few months ago that he would allocate a massive development budget of 1.4 billion shekels.

So why? Simple—Ashkelon’s mayor, Tomer Glam, who also serves as the Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Local Authorities, has political power within the Likud Central Committee and knows how to leverage his connections for the benefit of his city. Be’er Sheva, on the other hand, is less fortunate: its mayor is not affiliated with the ruling party, and it is—lo and behold—the only Negev city abandoned by the central government.

I have no complaints against Tomer Glam. My complaint is to the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the ministers, and the rest of the Likud MKs, who by virtue of their office and responsibilities have forgotten Be’er Sheva, the capital of the Negev. Two decades ago, important tax benefits that fostered demographic growth were taken away from the city. Canceling these benefits led many residents to migrate to nearby communities—Sderot, Netivot, Ofakim, Dimona, and others—draining the city of its young and qualified population.

If tax benefits in our country were granted based on national priorities, they would go to the capital of the Negev. Their absence weakens and undermines Be’er Sheva, condemning it to long-term decline. This irresponsible act will be recorded in the name of the current political leadership.

“What do you want?” I can already hear Likud activists muttering. “The government just recently approved a massive aid plan for Be’er Sheva amounting to a billion shekels.” I’ve explained this before and will repeat it here—the aid plan is an illusion. The money does not appear in the actual budget books, it is conditioned on impossible criteria, and is supposed to be spread over years. The practical meaning is that, for now, there is nothing—only promises on paper.

All this is happening while Be’er Sheva is at a historical crossroads—and this is no cliché. On one hand, it has suffered demographic stagnation for a decade. On the other hand, several major projects that could serve as huge growth engines are nearing completion—construction of two major military bases (Telecommunications and Intelligence), which will bring tens of thousands of soldiers and career officers; the establishment of new factories for defense industries; expansion of the high-tech park; launch of an innovation district; renovation of Soroka Medical Center and construction of an additional hospital; planning of a light rail system, and more.

At the center of this technological ecosystem stands Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, expanding its activities and becoming Israel’s innovation hub in artificial intelligence.

There can be no development in the Negev without Be’er Sheva at its center. Every urban planner will tell you that the anchor of regional development is a strong metropolis that contains the region’s central institutions, major workplaces, and draws in residents from across the country.

In other words, investing in the metropolis is not a “favor” to Be’er Sheva—it is a clear national interest. The metropolis is the economic engine meant to pull along all regional “cars,” and without it the entire Negev remains stuck.

One cannot interpret the government’s behavior—this Likud-led government—as anything other than abandoning Be’er Sheva. A government that declared it would “eliminate the periphery,” to borrow the Prime Minister’s favorite phrase, is now forsaking it and betraying its own voters. Let us remind those who have forgotten: in the last elections in November 2022, Likud received 40.3% of the votes in Be’er Sheva. The coalition parties together received 66.39% of the vote in the city. An absolute majority. What did they get in return?

So we cannot say that Likud chooses to benefit only its “base,” because Be’er Sheva is also part of its base. Apparently, in the end, it all comes down to “power, honor, and money,” to borrow the motto of Miki Zohar, which replaced Jabotinsky’s Five Mems. Benefits only for vote contractors, cronies, and party registrants—without a national, rational view of the public interest.

At this critical moment for the future of the capital of the Negev, I ask myself: where are all the MKs and ministers who live in the Negev, or were born here? Where are they? Beyond the value-based aspect—fulfilling Ben-Gurion’s vision of making the desert bloom—do they not understand that Be’er Sheva’s residents can also flip an election? Just as they helped bring Likud to power, they can take it away.

The upcoming elections will be decided by a margin of just a few seats—four or five in either direction. If Likud leaders and activists wake up the morning after the elections and discover that they have lost power, and begin to look for blame, they should look at themselves. On the day of reckoning, they were not there, and therefore the voters did not put the “right ballot” in the box.