The Hebrew newspaper Haaretz reported, on Thursday, that the head of the Israeli General Security Agency, the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar, tried to convince Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich not to cancel the budget allocated to encourage the integration of Palestinian students residing in Jerusalem into Israeli academic institutions, in preparation for approving the extension of the five-year plan for the development of the East. Jerusalem, which will be presented to the government next Sunday, with its near completion after approval in 2018.

According to the Hebrew newspaper, this plan is related to the areas of education, vocational training, learning Hebrew, transportation and infrastructure, and one of its biggest items is related to encouraging the integration of Palestinians into Israeli higher education institutions, as Haaretz reported.

According to the draft of the new plan, the budget for this item was supposed to be 450 million shekels, of which 250 was supposed to come from the budget of the Planning and Budget Committee, and the rest from the Ministry of Finance, and it includes the budget for scholarships and preparatory courses for students, but Smotrich and senior officials in the Ministry Finance oppose this and prefer to allocate money in other items of the plan.

The Jerusalem municipality, the Jerusalem Ministry, and the Shin Bet began pressuring the Finance Ministry to keep the clause as it is. The Shin Bet explained to Israeli Finance Ministry officials that encouraging higher education among Palestinians reduces the motivation to commit attacks. As part of this campaign, Barr spoke with Smotrich about This issue, and sources familiar with the details said, that the decision has not been taken yet, and the plan will be submitted for government approval without this clause.