The Knesset plenum has now (Wednesday) approved in first reading the amendment to the state budget for 2023. 62 Knesset members supported the proposal, against 53 opponents - among them members of National Unity. Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who threatened to oppose the budget, was absent from the vote, while Defense Minister Yoav Gallant was offset by approval.
The explanation for the proposal states that "the state budget reflects the planned priorities of the government, and refers to the needs it sees before its eyes at the time the budget is formulated and according to the best forecasts in the hands of the government at that time. The budget is formulated with the knowledge that these forecasts will not necessarily reflect the actual performance of the economy as well as the changing needs of the state, and with the understanding that there is no intention to paralyze the government's ability to continue to make decisions and set policies during the year - even if they affect the budget."
It was also stated that following the war that broke out on October 7, "the government is required to spend considerable sums, both due to the fighting itself and for civilian expenses arising from it, which were not foreseen when the original budget law was formulated and approved. These spending amounts require both an increase in the budget framework and a change in the prioritization of government spending which was established in the original law, in accordance with the aforementioned change of circumstances."
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich presented the proposal and said that "We prepared a peace budget that did not take into account the war that was imposed on us. I made a decision on an expanding economic policy, it is good for the economy and good nationally, the establishment of an economic wall of fortifications and a safety net for all sectors of the economy. In this bill There is an addition of 30.5 billion NIS, of which 17 billion NIS is for the needs of the army, and the rest for the civilian needs of the war. There is another 4 billion NIS from the budget approved by the Knesset in May, which are diverted to other needs for internal efficiency."
According to him, "This budget reflects a correct and balanced economic policy. The citizens of Israel know that there is a country that stands behind you in times of need, and on the other hand balances, not populism. There are no free meals and what we spend today will be paid for with interest in the years to come. A budget summarizes a society's value priorities scale. In a democratic society, values are naturally in dispute. I asked to avoid this dispute now because we are at war. I did not introduce my personal priorities as Minister of Finance, we set completely rigid technical criteria."
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However, the budget was widely criticized in the debate, following the allocation of coalition funds. "A serious mistake was made here. Apart from the needs for combat, all kinds of things were included in this budget supplement, some of which, by the way, are very close to my heart, not related to combat. It is not too late to correct it," said Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein. "The budget has now gone to the Finance Committee for preparation for the second and third reading, a reservation should be submitted there that removes from it all expenses not related to fighting, for the treatment of evacuees, abductees and all the immediate things. If this happens, I am confident that next week we will not see a spectacle of arguments here, and we will see here a majority of more than 100 Knesset members who support this budget."
MK Elazar Stern also asked: "Why does the prime minister bring us 3.7 million in the middle of a war to pay to associations that promote exemption from service in the IDF? Unity is always a component of national resilience, in the current situation unity is a means of warfare, it is a rifle and it is a flak jacket. But the unity begins to crumble, more precisely the government begins to crumble it, almost by force. It crumbles it in the budget presented here."
MK Naama Lazimi: "We all know what a budget is. Even when it is increased, surely in the face of a war that requires additional expenses for the home front, for the war effort - first of all we need to talk about the budgetary exhaustion within the ministries. Unfortunately, we did not do enough, to put it mildly, with the fictitious ministries, with the coalition funds, and therefore we are also receiving budget cuts."