Israel’s Negev area. Photo: Ramat Negev Regional Council.

IDF soldiers leaving the war can qualify for land to build a home at a significant discount, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday.

During a press conferee on Thursday evening, the prime minister said “Our heroic fighters earned it by right. they defended the house and they will now receive land to build a house on… a discharged soldier who does not own an apartment will receive a 90% discount on the land, and a discharged combat veteran without an apartment will receive a discount of up to 95%. That is, almost for free.”

The land in question is in the Sea of Galilee region and in the Negev, areas known in Israel as part of the “periphery” which has been a major national priority of multiple governments over the past few years to build up.

Adding, “The government’s decision is already prepared and consolidated in the Ministry of the Negev and the Galilee, and we would be happy if the Prime Minister approves putting it up for a vote at the next government meeting,” said Minister for the Development of the Periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, Yitzhak Wasserlauf. “This is double Zionism. Both to strengthen the settlement in these areas and to reward the soldiers who protect our country.”

Wasserlauf also praised Israeli journalist Boaz Golan who has made the issue of high land prices in the region for Jews in Israel a matter of his news programs over the past year.

Golan tweeted in response to the move, reiterating the problem faced, saying “I struggled for many months on the issue of discrimination in the prices of Land Authority between Arabs and Jews. 50,000 NIS for Arabs and up to 1.4 million NIS for Jews.”

Despite the significant discounts, he called on Netanyahu to make it free, saying “Veterans should not have to pay for land at all.”