Starting Aug. 2, almost every Israeli will receive a “coronavirus grant” deposited directly into his or her bank account in several installments. The subsidies, conceived by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in complete contradiction to the position of the Finance Ministry and to his own economic worldview, are supposed to boost consumption by those affected by the coronavirus crisis and catalyze economic recovery.

As usual, Netanyahu announced the measure in typical pompous style at a televised news conference he convened on July 15, incurring harsh criticism from almost every direction. Senior Finance Ministry officials reportedly tried to block the move, with arguments escalating to a real clash, according to some media leaks.

Critics argued that an expenditure of 6 billion Israeli shekels ($1.76 billion) was irresponsible populism at the height of an unprecedented economic and budgetary crisis, but Netanyahu was more concerned about the growing protests against his handling of the crisis, even among his Likud voters. Critics pointed to the fact that grants as high as 3,000 shekels ($880) per family would be handed out to everyone, even those unaffected by the economic downturn and even billionaires, such as Shari Arison, rather than being used for more urgent needs, such as bolstering the health services or expanding aid to the self-employed and small businesses.

Just hours after the grandiose announcement, private and media initiatives emerged to divert the grants from those who did not really need the money to those who did. Israelis pledged to donate tens of millions of shekels in grant money to the needy. Social media and WhatsApp groups were flooded with proposals for a “just” distribution of the money, and directors of high-tech firms urged their employees to donate all the state money they receive. In fact, a large swathe of the public sensed discomfort with the idea and many expressed mistrust of Netanyahu’s move despite its alleged goal of benefitting them.