The Israel Tax Authority is resuming operations in Bnei Brak under police protection after suspending its work in the city, including assistance to residents whose homes were damaged in the war with Iran. The suspension followed a violent attack on tax inspectors who entered the city about two weeks ago.
In a letter to Ofir Alkalay, chairman of the Histadrut civil servants union, Tax Authority Director Shay Aharonovitch said the agency’s management had met with Bnei Brak police commanders and approved a revised security plan that accepted all the demands raised by the union and Tax Authority employees.
The unrest in Bnei Brak about two weeks ago
(Video: Kobi Israel)
“The personal safety of employees is our highest priority, and we will not tolerate any harm to them while they are carrying out their duties,” Aharonovitch said.
He said employees would enter Bnei Brak and other communities considered at high risk “only with advance coordination and an Israel Police escort, to ensure their full safety and security in the field.”
Aharonovitch also said the authority was working to provide employees in the field with advanced technological security equipment, arrange special insurance coverage for high-risk positions with the accountant general and submit a request for hazard pay to the Finance Ministry’s salary commissioner.
The dispute began after income tax inspectors conducting a routine enforcement operation in Bnei Brak were violently attacked by a local crowd. The incident quickly escalated into a siege of their vehicle, which sustained heavy damage, and police rescued them as stones and other objects were thrown at them.
Following the incident, which shocked law enforcement officials, Aharonovitch sent an unusually harsh letter to Bnei Brak Mayor Hanoch Zeibert.
Aharonovitch said the employees had “experienced a lynching by hundreds of people” and sharply criticized the municipality’s silence.
“To my astonishment, the Bnei Brak municipality did not see fit to condemn the violence,” he wrote. “I can only conclude that Tax Authority employees are not welcome in your city.”
As a punitive measure, Aharonovitch ordered an immediate halt to the processing of compensation claims filed by city residents affected by the war with Iran. He made the resumption of services conditional on the municipality issuing an official and unequivocal condemnation in the Haredi media.
Aharonovitch and Zeibert later met, and the mayor distanced himself from the incident. The dispute appeared to have been resolved, and Aharonovitch ordered operations to resume.
Senior Tax Authority officials meet with the mayor of Bnei Brak
However, despite what was described as a positive and cordial meeting in the mayor’s office and a decision to fully restore services, the situation on the ground remained different.
Tax Authority employees represented by the Histadrut said they would not resume operations in the city until all their security demands were met.
In a strongly worded letter to Aharonovitch, Alkalay said the boycott of the city would continue unless the employees’ conditions were accepted.
Alkalay expressed “profound shock and unequivocal condemnation of the serious acts of violence directed at Tax Authority employees in Bnei Brak,” describing them as incidents that “cross every red line and harm not only the employees themselves but also the public service and the State of Israel.”
Explaining why employees refused to resume services for residents, including processing war-related claims through the compensation fund, Alkalay set clear conditions for a return to normal operations.
“Tax Authority employees will return to work in Bnei Brak only when the following conditions, agreed upon in our discussions, are met,” he wrote.
The main demands included requiring advance coordination and an Israel Police escort for employees entering Bnei Brak and other communities where there is an elevated risk of violence. The union also demanded additional technological security equipment, special insurance coverage for employees in high-risk positions and hazard pay.
Alkalay concluded his letter with a direct warning to Tax Authority management, saying the suspension of services in Bnei Brak could be expanded.
“Should Tax Authority management fail to act immediately and adequately to implement all measures necessary to protect employees, we will not hesitate to use every organizational, public and legal means available to us until a safe and protected working environment is ensured,” he wrote.