This time — the old Knesset building, also known as Beit Fromin, located at the corner of King George Street and Hillel Street.
Until 1949, the newly born state’s Knesset sessions were held in Tel Aviv.
At the end of 1949, the Knesset moved to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. The first sessions were held in the Jewish Agency building, next to King George Street and today’s Keren Kemeit Street.
Starting in 1950, Beit Fromin was designated as the official residence of the Knesset of Israel.
In October 1959, a hand grenade was thrown at the government table by a Jew who sat in the stands. It seriously injured the Minister of Religion, and slightly injured David Ben-Gurion and Golda Meir.
In 1966, the Knesset moved to its new residence in Givat Ram where it still resides to this day, and the building remained empty.
In November 2000, the district committee approved the addition of 1,000% of the construction to the historic Knesset building in order to create a 16-story building that would serve as a hotel.
In July 2001, a tender was published for the purchase of the building. It was won by an old and well-known Jerusalem entrepreneur, who submitted the only bid for NIS 10 million.
In September 2001, the committee changed its decision, (after the tender was won) and approved the demolition of the building while preserving its façade. Instead of a hotel, the committee approved the construction of a residential and office tower, and the preservation of the old Knesset plenary hall, marking a dramatic increase in the developer’s potential profits.
Since then, the plot saw additional twists. The Council for the Preservation of Sites opposed the demolition of the historic building. A number of members of the Knesset submitted a bill to prevent any changes to the building after the previous tender was closed and paid.
The state rented the building to the Rabbinical Court until the end of the investigation process.
In 2005, the Minister of Finance at the time, Binyamin Netanyahu, allowed the state to buy back the building from the developer, (who bought the building from the state through a tender) for the price of NIS 42 million plus the reimbursement of renovation expenses. In total, the state paid the developer (from taxpayers’ money) a total of NIS 47 million.
In a nutshell, the developer purchased a building from the state for NIS 10 million through an official tender. The state bought back the building for NIS 47 million from the developer after 4 years in which the developer made profits by renting it.
This is all true, no tales. The right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. Both are wise and heroic at the expense of taxpayers’ money.
Another twist in the plot took place in 2011. The developer filed a lawsuit against the state through attorney David Shimron for the amount of NIS 150,000,000 (one hundred and fifty million) for the loss of potential profits he could have made had the project been carried out as planned.
This is our Jerusalem and the State of Israel in its glory. A building of historical and cultural importance that was sold in an official tender to serve as a hotel, then was converted into offices and residences, was leased to a state institution which then bought it back from the developer who made a significant profit and then claimed huge sums for potential losses for a project that did not exist.
Shabbat of peace to the far and near
