The Knesset passed a financial aid plan for businesses in the South and the North almost five weeks after the beginning of the war in a special Knesset plenum session on Wednesday night.
The plan passed its second and third readings after the Finance Committee had spent hours finalizing the details throughout the day.
How will the plan work?
The plan contains a continuity grant for businesses with an annual cycle of between NIS 12,000 and NIS 400 million who have suffered a decline of at least 25% bimonthly or 12.5% in October and/or November. The sum of the grant will be determined for each business according to its cycle compared to its loss.
For businesses that were started after September 2, 2022, the calculation will be different.
In order for employees to maintain an income if they were placed on furlough, the plan also changes the requirements for unemployment benefits to allow them to be paid sooner.
As such, employees will no longer have to use their remaining vacation days before getting paid, and they will be eligible to start receiving money after 14 days as opposed to the regular 30.
Displaced Israelis from the South and the North will be eligible for an automatic extension for their benefits, and people over the age of 67 who lost their place of work will be given a special grant.
The benefits in the plan will be valid between October 7 and November 30.
The financial aid plan went through many changes over the last few weeks. When the Finance Ministry first presented its plan in the Finance Committee, it was faced with heavy criticism from people who said that the compensation offered wasn't enough. It also only applied to businesses located at most seven km from the border. Businesses further out would be given less compensation. The final plan that passed in Knesset extended the limit to 40 km in order to include towns that were heavily affected but originally wouldn't have been included.
During the same meeting, Economy Minister Nir Barkat presented his own plan, which didn't include the seven-km limit and awarded higher compensation to affected businesses. The final plan that passed on Wednesday night was a combination of both plans.