Now it’s final: the Knesset plenum approved the updated state budget for 2023 today (Thursday), which is meant to fund the continued fighting and help aid civilian spending in the rear. 59 MKs voted in favor vs. 38 opposed.
The opposition factions opposed the proposal, arguing the budget is a political one which includes “coalition money” and a misallocation of resources. The State Camp party – which joined the emergency government – also did not support the budget during the vote.
There was even opposition among the coalition, with MK Yuli Edelstein threatening not to vote for the budget after the objection he supported was removed – but he ultimately voted in favor, though he said he did so mistakenly and wished his vote be changed to an abstention. On the other hand, Gila Gamliel was absent without authorization, while Yoav Gallant, David Bitan, and Moshe Arbel were authorized to be absent and their votes were “paired” such that both their votes and the votes of their opposition counterparts were cancelled out.
Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich welcomed the approval of the budget, saying “this is a war budget. Together with our partners, we built up a good budget, which provides a response to the needs of the war on the front and in the rear. The IDF, as always, has full budgetary backing to do everything that needs to be done to defeat our enemies. In the rear, in this budget we advance an expansionary policy to provide a broad response to the evacuees, the businesses, the survivors, the government ministries for the good of all Israeli citizens. This is a good and needed budget in this time, a budget which grants the front and rear with long breathing room to bring victory.”
The updated state budget for 2023, including debt payments, will amount to 636.6 billion NIS, and the spending limit will stand at 510.6 billion NIS – meaning an addition of some 25.9 billion NIS to the 2023 budget approved in May. The total spending for war needs in 2023 is 28.9 billion NIS – 17 billion of which goes to security needs and 12 billion going to civilian needs.