Opposition blasts 'budget for the rich'
Budget Law, Arrangements Law brought to second, third reading in heated debate. Finance minister: 'Leadership takes place in real world, not fantasy world'; Opposition chairwoman: 'Lapid's Budget, Arrangements Laws give strong sense of Déjà vu'
In the last week before the Knesset's summer recess, the State budget for 2013-2014 fiscal years is brought before the Knesset
for its second and third readings. The Budget Law and Arrangements Law are expected to be approved by Wednesday, otherwise the Knesset would be dispersed.
The discussions, speeches and votes are expected to continue into the night. The Knesset announced that voting will continue until Tuesday morning at 9 am.
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In his speech to the plenum, Finance Minister Yair Lapid responded to criticism: "I want to have a budget that gives, gives and gives. Give to the center and the periphery, to young and old, to lower income tax to 2%, to eliminate VAT, to give every worker a car and every family a plane. Now that we're done with the fantasy world, let's get back to the real world, with a real budget that needs to be submitted by a real Knesset."
Lapid added: "This budget really deals with the question 'where is the money?' The first task that no one dared to approach was to close the NIS 35 billion ($9.74 billion) budget gap; a real ongoing structural deficit that exists in the real world, and not in the opposition's la-la land. In a world where you don't take care of that right now, it becomes NIS 65 billion ($18.1 billion) next year and over NIS 70 billion ($19.5 billion) the next.
"It is something real that happens in real life and the opposition decided to ignore. We had to decide what to do: Should we let the whole deal fall apart around us just so that no one would be angry with us? Leadership takes place in the real world and not the fantasy world."
Opposition members responded to Lapid. Nitzan Horowitz said: "Fantasy world? Facebook world! That's the only thing you know." Eitan Cabel added: "It means you didn't understand the reality. Where did you live before, la-la land? When did you discover the light? When did you realize your campaign was nonsense?"
Lapid thanked the opposition and added a jab: "I'm glad the opposition found the middle class. I see it as a contribution to the parliamentary discourse. I listened to it for many years and didn’t know you had any idea about the matter. We first took from the yeshivas, the highly-paid, we first took from the defense budget that no one had dared touch for years."
Yachimovitch's WhatsApp group
In light of Knesset discussions, Opposition Chairwoman Shelly Yachimovich opened a WhatsApp group titled "Lapid protesting against himself", to which she added Knesset Members from Yesh Atid and journalists. Yachimovich's spokesmen sent the group photos of Lapid taking part in the social protest.
In her speech, Yachimovich said: "Lapid protested and rode the wave of the protest to his elite office, and today he became the presenter of this bad budget." She turned to Lapid and said: "You mocked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, you committed to doing the opposite from him. You also keep reminding us of the terrible legacy he left you."
In her remarks, Yachimovich compared Lapid's policy to Netanyahu's during his term as finance minister a decade ago: "When I realized for the first time how Lapid's Budget and Arrangements Laws look, I had a strong sense of Déjà vu. I remembered another finance minister, one that believed that if we give the rich a lot – but quite a lot – things would be better at some time.
"Netanyahu's ad agency failed to convince the middle class. Conclusion: A new campaign is needed, with a new presenter, one who is younger, with television experience, one who has done campaigns before and has no problem selling anything."
In her conclusion, Yachimovich congratulated the resumption of negotiations with the Palestinians and stressed: "We will fight for the budget as if there is no peace process, and support the peace process as if there is no budget."
Next year's budget: NIS 395 billion ($110 billion)
Last week, the Knesset's Finance Committee approved the State Budget Law with eight votes in favor and four opposing votes. According to the law, next year's budget will be NIS 395 billion ($110 billion) and NIS 405 billion ($112.8 billion) in 2014.
Knesset's Finance Committee Chairman Nissan Slominski said that the budget reflects an attempt to get out of a NIS 40 billion ($11.14 billion) overdraft left by the previous administration.
"The budget does not reflect mine or the finance minster's worldview, because it is a budget dictated by reality. I want to defend Lapid, who said he is not an economist, but managed to construct a budget when he did not have enough time. Perhaps today he would have submitted a different budget," Slominski said.
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