Israel budget: Bennett slams opposition as 'desperate' ahead of long-awaited vote
Israeli members of parliament, the Knesset, started on Tuesday the long-awaited debate over the vote on a new budget for 2021 and 2022, for the first time in almost three and a half years.
The Israeli budget was a contentious issue that pushed Israel to a snap election in March, the fourth since 2019. It led to Benjamin Netanyahu being ousted from power by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in June.
Israel's last vote for a state budget was in March 2018, during Netanyahu's tenure as premier.
'They’re desperate. They are desperate to bring down the budget and bring about the fifth election'
- Naftali Bennett
The opposition leader is expected to attempt to use the vote on Friday to attempt to derail the government of Bennett and secure a fifth snap election. He only needs 60 Knesset members to vote against for the budget to fail, while Bennett needs 60 plus one vote in favour.
However, the chances for a snap election remain slim, according to Israeli analysts, as the government coalition has until 14 November to pass the budget and secured a successful first vote in September with a majority of five votes. The bill has to pass second and third readings to be enshrined into law.
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Bennett is leading a razor-thin coalition formed of right-wing, secular, Islamist and leftist parties. His government recently failed to renew a racist law barring Palestinian families from reuniting, his coalition's first hurdle.
Since July, Israel has been avoiding issues strewn with political land mines that could split the government.
Avigdor Lieberman, the minister of finance, said that the coalition needs to put aside the Palestinian issue and instead focus on economic and social matters.
"As long as the coalition focuses on these issues, the coalition can last its entire term," Lieberman said, describing the budget of 609.1 billion Shekels ($191.2bn) for 2021 and 572.9 billion Shekels ($179.8bn) for 2022 as "the most socioeconomic budget ever".
"By Friday, Israel will go back to being a normal country with a budget after the anomaly of three and a half years without a budget due to the personal interests of one person," Lieberman said, referring to Netanyahu.
Bennett will be returning from the UN climate summit of COP26 in Glasgow to give a speech at the Knesset on Thursday ahead of the vote, with Netanyahu, Lieberman, Yair Lapid, the alternate prime minister, and the Knesset's finance committee chairman, Alex Kushnir.
Bennett affirmed on Sunday that his coalition would pass the budget, despite a rebel member from his Yamina party, Amichai Chikli, who said he would not vote in favour.
Netanyahu's political allies of the ultra-Orthodox and the religious Zionist factions are expected to vote against the budget. Another party signalling not to vote in favour of the bill is the Arab Joint List, a political alliance representing Palestinian citizens of Israel, which said it will not act as a "safety net" for Bennett's coalition.
'Israel needs stability'
"The budget will pass because Israel needs stability because the country needs good, calm management because no one wants to return to the endless elections cycle," Bennett said.
He warned Israelis to expect a "crazy week" that "will get wilder every day as the vote on the budget gets closer. The moment the budget passes, it gives the government stability for several years."
He lambasted the Netanyahu camp as "desperate" and said once the budget passes in the Knesset, the opposition "will fall apart and crumble to pieces".
"They understand this," Bennett added. "They’re desperate. They are desperate to bring down the budget and bring about the fifth election."
Once the Israeli state budget details were published in the summer, Netanyahu described it as "harmful" and the worst he's ever seen.
"This bad government has lied to Israel's citizens," Netanyahu said in August. "Instead of lowering taxes and making life easier for Israeli citizens, they are raising taxes and prices, harming the citizens of Israel."
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