Fifty savers who invested their money through the collapsing Slice IRA provident fund petitioned last Thursday demanding that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich address their requests and work to provide a state guarantee to help restore their lost savings.
At the heart of the petition is the dispute over whether the state is required to take responsibility — and provide a guarantee on its behalf — for the benefit of Slice members, who lost approximately 850 million shekels of their pension savings in the collapse of the so-called "red funds."
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The petition states, among other things: "Most of the funds that disappeared into the red funds have not yet been located, and Respondent 3 (Slice's licensed manager, CPA Efi Sandrov) admits that it will be many years before he can complete his work — which he faithfully performs — as he should." The petition also refers to Smotrich's words in a debate held in the Knesset last January, when the minister clarified: "You can't hold the rope at both ends — to want to manage the funds yourself and take risks, and then, when the risk materializes, come to the state with claims and demand a guarantee. In my opinion, this is not educational, not right, and not just. In the end, what is 'the state'? The state is all of our money. I support the Capital Market Authority in this matter — not 100%, but 300% — the risk. Whoever took on the risk will also bear the consequences. I do not accept that people take a risk, and when it materializes — demand that the state bear the consequences. My heart really goes out to them, and it's a tragedy. But the state is not supposed to compensate. I have to take money from the pockets of Israeli citizens and give it to someone who decided in advance — with their knowledge, and with their signature — to invest in a self-managed fund, in alternative instruments. He knew he was taking a risk. Why should I take on his risk?"
According to Smotrich's position, the Slice victims knowingly chose to manage their own money and bear the risk. But the truth is completely different: many of them did not even know that their money was transferred to the Slice IRA provident fund — they certainly did not assume that it was a high-risk alternative product. In practice, the members did nothing: they were misled, and in many cases did not even know that money was being transferred in their name.
Moreover, the Ministry of Finance knew as early as July 2022 that an organized robbery of pension funds was taking place through the Slice IRA — and yet did nothing to stop the process. And yet, the Minister of Finance is currently adopting the version of the officials and the trustee, as if it were a free choice of the savers — and is absolving himself of all responsibility.
The problem is not only with Smotrich's position — but that the reality experienced by the victims was simply not conveyed to him properly. He gets the picture from the officials in his office, from the supervisor About the insurance, and from the person in charge of Slice, Efi Sandrov – and this is also the result: an alienated, technical position that ignores the basic lie that was sold to the public.
If there had been an effective media campaign on the part of the victims, if the public had been exposed to personal testimonies, data and facts on the ground, perhaps public pressure would have changed the position of the Ministry of Finance. But in the absence of a public presence, when the victims are silent on social media, Smotrich continues to act on the basis of the information he is given from within – and not from the reality outside.
And the result? No compensation. No responsibility. No compassion. And most importantly – no justice.
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