Israel has two budgets, according to MK Stav Shaffir (Labor): one that is passed legally, on the Knesset floor, and another "secret budget" that is transferred in the Finance Committee, sometimes without any Knesset members being present and with no supervision of where this money goes.

In an interview for "The Candidates," Shaffir tells Aimee Amiga that "in the last year and a half, the government transferred 1.2 billion shekels as a bonus to the settlements, on top of the budget that they got at the beginning of the year."

Open gallery view Stav Shaffir at a reception following the swearing-in ceremony of the 19th Knesset, Jerusalem February 5, 2013. Credit: Emil Salman

Watch the highlights here and the full interview below:



In their interview, Shaffir who was one of the key leaders of the social protests of 2011, tells Amiga of her fight for greater budgetary transparency and more equal distribution of government funds.

"Before we are even able to get enough money for the causes we went three years ago to protest for to solve the housing problem and to solve the problems we have in our education system and the healthcare system, we have to clean our system of corruption," Shaffir said.

At age 29, Shaffir is the youngest member of Knesset and, ranked fourth on the Zionist Union joint list, could find herself being offered a ministerial position in the next government. She tells Amiga whether she's ready for the challenge, and shares her views on how politicians can harness social media to not only communicate with citizens, but allow them to contribute back to lawmaking.

Watch the full interview here:



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Hummus or tehina? Beer or wine? Click here to discover the person behind the persona of Stav Shaffir.