Israel grants fuel tax exemptions worth upwards of 167 million shekels ($51,054,722) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and other pro-Palestinian groups. Some of these exempted groups, Israel Hayom has learned, have ties to terrorist organizations and support the boycott, divestment, sanctions movements against Israel.
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According to figures delivered by the Israel Tax Authority to Lavi, a nonprofit that works for civil rights and good governance, following a petition by Lavi under the Freedom of Information Law, between 2015-2020 Israel exempted UNRWA from paying taxes on 66 million liters (17,435,355 gallons) of gasoline, at least 49 million liters (12,944,430 gallons) of which were transferred to the Gaza Strip.
As first reported by Israel Hayom several months ago, government ministries and the Israel Tax Authority initially refused to supply the information about the hundreds of millions of shekels in tax exemptions to anti-Israel groups, but due to Lavi's petition to the Jerusalem Administrative Court, they changed their position and agreed to release the information.
Israel derives around one-half of all its tax revenues from taxes on fuel, tobacco, and alcohol, while its declared goal is to reduce consumption of these products. Various international organizations enjoy this exemption on fuel taxes, which is based on directives originally designed to provide relief for aid groups operating in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.
In actuality, some of the organizations that receive this exemption due to their humanitarian work, also promote anti-Israel activities. Over the past six years, for example, UNRWA has received fuel tax exemptions worth some 164 million shekels ($51 million). Around 90% of that sum, nearly 143 million shekels ($43,717,516), represent some 50 million liters (13,208,603 gallons) of fuel that entered Gaza since 2015.
At the same time, between 2016-2019 the Lutheran World Federation, which accuses Israel of "colonialist apartheid policies," received an exemption worth some 2.1 million shekels ($642,000). To further illustrate the point, the aid groups Diakonia and the Mennonite Central Committee – two other church-based organizations, which according to Israel's NGO Monitor harbor extreme ideological-theological hostility toward Israel – have ties with organizations affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization. In recent years, these two groups received fuel tax exemptions worth over 100,000 shekels ($30,570).
In seeking a response, the Defense Ministry referred Israel Hayom to the Finance Ministry, which said: "We decline to comment."
The Lavi organization issued a statement saying, "It is unacceptable that Israeli aid organizations, such as Magen David Adom, are discriminated against and don't receive a fuel tax exemption, while international organizations, some of which are anti-Israel, receive gifts from the State of Israel."
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