Knesset reconvened to approve the 2022 national budget on Thursday, after approving the 2021 spending bill earlier that day, meeting a deadline for its passage and averting the threat of a new election for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's government. It is widely expected to approve that package early on Friday.
The 2022 Arrangments Bill, which includes key reforms such as raising the retirement age for women, a congestion tax in the Tel Aviv area and the kosher certification reform, passed in a 61-57 vote.
The legislature voted 61-59 vote in favor of the 2021 budget in a test for Bennett's diverse coalition of right-wing, centrist, left-wing and Arab parties.
"It's a day for celebration for the State of Israel," Bennett said on Twitter after the vote.
"After years of chaos, we established a government, overcame the (COVID-19) Delta variant and now, thank God, we passed a budget for Israel."
Failure to win parliamentary ratification for the 2021 package by Nov. 14 would have triggered a new election by law, but many political commentators had predicted it would be approved.
Knesset began voting on a series of budget bills, including hundreds of amendments, late on Wednesday. The assembly opened with Bennett and Netanyahu delivering speeches attacking one another.
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MKs and ministers celebrate after Knesset approve the 2020 state budget
(Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
Netanyahu's allies repeatedly heckled and interrupted Bennett. Unruly scenes continued. At one point, a lawmaker from Netanyahu's Likud party was escorted out after calling the parliament speaker a "floor rag," and an ultra-Orthodox lawmaker was removed after meowing like a cat.
As the opposition sought to drag the vote out into the early hours of the morning, coalition whip Idit Silman distributed candy to keep lawmakers alert.
On the opposite side of the aisle, Israel Katz, Israel's former finance minister under Netanyahu, blasted the "terrible budget of cutbacks and taxes" in an Army Radio interview.
Eitan Ginzburg, a coalition lawmaker, told Army Radio that by passing the 2021 budget, "we avoided fifth elections, stabilized the political system and the economy as well."
A prolonged political stalemate in Israel had meant that no budget had been approved in the legislature in more than 3-1/2 years. The country has been running with a pro-rated version of the 2019 budget, something economists say is hindering growth.
Passage of the 2021 budget came nearly five months after Bennett's government took office, replacing the administration of long-time leader Benjamin Netanyahu following four inconclusive elections in two years.
First published: 11:31, 11.04.21