On the eve of the final approval of the 2023-2024 budget by the Knesset, Finance Ministry sources believe it will pass despite objections from coalition and opposition members. Sources expect there will be a filibuster Tuesday evening and into the early hours of Wednesday morning with vigorous objections to honoring the latest budget demands made at the last minute by United Torah Judaism Chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf, the president of Otzma Yehudit, Itamar Ben-Gvir. and Noam Chairman Avi Maoz.
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The Finance Ministry explains that there is no possibility of adding money to comply with politicians’ demands because the 2023-2024 budget proposal has already been approved by the Knesset Finance Committee for its second and third readings this week. This is after the coalition’s financial allocations have already been stretched and increased to NIS 13.6 billion from the state budget. Officials in the Ministry of Finance already feel that they have been forced into excessive demands, mainly from the haredi parties and for purposes contrary to official departmental policy – to encourage growth.
No coalition member is expected to vote against the budget
It is estimated that no coalition member will ultimately vote against the budget, despite protests. Failure to pass the budget by the end of the month would lead to the dissolution of the Knesset and new elections, which would pose more risks than opportunities for most coalition parties. However, it is possible that agreements will be reached between the parties for a compensation mechanism, for politicians “missing” their demands, on transfers through the Knesset committees.
According to one source, the budget dispute with Ben-Gvir differs from the dispute with Goldknopf and Maoz due to ongoing tensions between National Security Minister Ben-Gvir and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the source, Netanyahu has no interest in further bolstering Ben-Gvir and is angered by the way Ben-Gvir is trying to “overrun him on the right” over security issues.
In recent weeks, Ben-Gvir has not been invited to security assessments, and one of the reasons Netanyahu has asked to advance Knesset budget approval by a week (a request that the Prime Minister’s Office denies) was to avoid a situation where Ben-Gvir corners Netanyahu at the last minute with additional demands.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – May 22, 2023.
© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.