There is a budget. After a marathon night of debates, the Knesset plenum approved the package of state budget laws for the years 2023-2024. Within ten hours, the coalition managed to pass all the required laws after all the reservations submitted by the opposition factions were rejected. 64 Knesset members supported compared to 56 who opposed. The state budget for 2023 will be NIS 484 billion and in 2024 it will be NIS 514 billion.
video-credit">Video: The Knesset Plenary, last night
The Minister of Finance, Bezalel Smotrich congratulated and said that the budget is “excellent”. Referring to the recent storms, he added that “the Israeli economy is a strong economy. Our economy is one of the best and most stable economies in the world. When there were economic storms in the past, we were the first to get out of them. This is also what will happen now, and a lot thanks to the budget and the Settlements Law that we approved. When we formulated the budget, we put before our eyes One central goal – continued growth. Israel’s macro data are among the best we have known and I insist on continuing to preserve these good data.”
According to the published data, the state budget for 2023 will amount to approximately 484 billion shekels and in 2024 to approximately 514 billion shekels. The Ministry of Education’s budget will be approximately NIS 77 billion and NIS 82 billion, respectively, the defense budget will be approximately NIS 63 billion and NIS 64 billion, and the Health Ministry’s budget will be approximately NIS 44 billion in 2023 and NIS 50 billion in 2024.
The Prime Minister noted on his Twitter account ️✔️ next to each item on the list: “️We won the elections, we passed a budget, we continue for 4 good years”. And the Chairman of the Finance Committee, MK Moshe Gafni, said after the end of the votes: “We have passed a good and responsible budget for the benefit of the citizens of Israel. Now our task is to lower the cost of living and take care of housing prices for the benefit of all citizens, and with God’s help we will do so.”
On the other hand, the opposition members attacked the approved budget. The head of the opposition Lapid said that “this budget is a budget of bribery, deception and breach of trust. We are raising the first generation in the country’s history that will be poorer than their parents, because each of our children will have to finance children who not only do not work but also will not receive a basic toolbox of Math and English, which will allow them one day to support themselves and their children.” MK Benny Gantz also attacked the coalition: “Reality exploded in your face with the regime coup – and it will explode in your face with the budget issue as well.” At the end of the votes, Gantz added that “the State of Israel has fallen into the hands of an extreme coalition that has put the Israeli economy and Israeli society on the altar of politics “. MK Ofer Kasif called on the public: “Go to a civil protest against the budget, which is also part of the coup d’état.”
During the debate in the plenum, while voting, the members of the Knesset celebrated the victory of the Beitar Jerusalem soccer team and its winning of the state cup. At the beginning of his speech, Netanyahu called the members of the Knesset “There is now a cup final – let’s finish it quickly, so we can see it in real time.”
In addition to the coalition celebrations, there were also unpleasant clashes. Minister Dodi Amsalem attacked the spokesperson of the Ministry of Finance Assi Messing, calling him “the professional saboteur”. Finance Minister Smotrich grabbed his microphone and defended the official “he can’t answer, don’t attack him”. Messing sat in the stands and watched from above.
Later, there was a commotion in the plenum when MK Michal Shir burst out shouting at the Prime Minister, calling him a “dictator”. The Speaker of the Knesset ordered Shir out of the plenum. Netanyahu commented sarcastically: “Which party is she in?”, and continued: “An unprecedented thing happened here, she spoke in front of a full hall.”
