Rabbi Goldknopf to the Management of ILA: Consider Me Your Partner

On Wednesday, Housing Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Goldknopf held a first working meeting with the management of Israel Land Authority (ILA), during which he received an overview of the projects promoted by the Authority and the work plans for 2023. The meeting was chaired by the Director General of the Israel Land Authority, Adv. Yanky Quint.

At the beginning of the meeting, Rabbi Goldknopf said: “I come from the field of education and am getting to know a new industry. I entered the ministry with the desire to solve the plight [of housing] and bring good news to the public in Israel without differences of religion, race or community. Everyone expects us to deliver the goods. I mentioned the discharged soldiers at the exchange ceremony in the ministry, and I ask that you also tend to them as well. I mentioned the young couples and the avreichim, and I intend to take care of all of them as much as I can. Consider me your partner. I will help you in every way to remove any barrier, for the common goal of all of us: lowering housing prices in Israel.”

The CEO of the Israel Lands Authority, Yanky Quint, introduced Rabbi Goldknopf to the many professional elements in the ILA, and presented to him the activity of the Authority, which arouses great optimism and leads to results in slowing down the price offers of contractors, which indicates a trend in price suppression already at the current point in time. One of the news that was presented to the minister is the promotion of the initiative to evacuate the refineries in Haifa and Einav Ringler – the director of the planning department presented the complexity involved in the process.

At the meeting, the minister was also presented with the Authority’s dealings with the invasion of public lands by criminal elements. “Today, there are 70 inspectors operating throughout Israel whose job it is to locate intruders and take sanctions against them,” said the director of the inspection department, Shira Tam. She told about a new system made by Rafael that operates using artificial intelligence and is being used by the ILA. The system is able to detect an invasion in real time, and thus carry out immediate enforcement without the need in the management of a long legal process. “The expectation is that within a year the motivation to invade will decrease significantly,” added Quint.

Minister Rabbi Goldknopf concluded by saying: “I was very impressed by the actions of the ILA. Anyone who has been exposed to the beginnings of construction, understands that there is room for great optimism regarding housing solutions and lowering prices.”