The Mossawa Center, Haifa. Wednesday 14th of May 2014. On Tuesday May 12th  Mossawa legal and economic staff went to the Knesset to advocate against a recent bill that will cancel the 18% added tax on apartments for first time home buyers who have either "served in the IDF or performed national service."  Those who have not completed army or national service, mainly members of the Arab community, would not be included in the VAT waiver.  The Mossawa Center views this bill as part of a growing trend of discriminatory Israeli legislation aimed at furthering the segregation of the Arab community from the rest of the Israeli population. 

The Mossawa Center calls for Yair Lapid to stop the encouragement of the housing shortage in the Arab community and end the deepening discrimination against the most disadvantaged population in the country.  Currently, less than 2% of mortgage recipients are Arabs and more than 35,000 homes without permits are located in Arab communities.  In addition, there exist entire villages that are unrecognized by the government as a result of intentional discrimination by the Israel Lands Authority and other governmental agencies such as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Housing who give special treatment to immigrants,  Kibbutzim, Ultra orthodox and illegal settlements.  The current director of the Israel Land Authority, Benzi Lieberman who was appointed in 2011 held the previous position of the chairman of the Judea and Samaria regional council.  

It is noteworthy to mention as well that the Arab residents in Haifa pay a higher price for an apartment, as do residents of Jaffa, Lod, Ramle and Acre as many are denied mortgages from local banks.  

The Ministry of finance allocated billions of shekels to support soldiers released from the army which will be paid for from the taxes of the entire population including those in the Arab community who will not benefit from these funds.  Additionally, outside of the city of Nazareth, Israel has no public housing projects in any Arab communities.  Furthermore, an apartment in Nazareth today costs at least 1,200,000 NIS.  The Mossawa Center calls for an end to discrimination by the Israel Land Authority which chooses to directly discriminate against poor and marginalized populations.  
The Mossawa Center calls for an end to the bill proposal