Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday the government will set aside the contentious military draft bill and several disputed reforms as it pushes to pass the state budget by the end of the month.
Under Israeli law, failure to approve the budget by the deadline would lead to the dissolution of Knesset and new elections.
Smotrich said the government will move to immediately pass the budget, with a focus on allocating tens of billions of shekels in additional funding for the defense budget to support the war effort.
“To succeed in this mission, we are putting aside issues that are in dispute and not appropriate during wartime,” Smotrich said. “We are putting aside the draft law, which will not be advanced at this stage, as well as several reforms for which there is not yet broad agreement.”
The government held a meeting via video conference because of the war to approve changes to the budget, with ministers summoned individually and asked to arrive without aides or staff.
Netanyahu said the war requires a special wartime budget to support the military campaign.
“We are in a battle with a cruel enemy that seeks to destroy us,” Netanyahu said, referring to the conflict with Iran. He said Israel had struck the enemy’s nuclear and ballistic capabilities during Operation Roaring Lion.
“But there is one big ‘but,’” Netanyahu said. “This costs money — a lot of money. Therefore, we are required to provide a special budget during the war with tens of billions of shekels to help the defense budget and the war effort.”
During the cabinet discussion, tensions flared between Tourism Minister Haim Katz of Likud and Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strock of the Religious Zionism party over planned across-the-board cuts to government ministries.
Strock said the government must ensure funding for elderly residents in the north. Katz responded that too much funding had been directed to her ministry.
“You took all the money for your ministry. If you close one or two bypass roads, we can protect the entire north,” Katz said.
National Security Minister Amichai Eliyahu of the Otzma Yehudit party backed Katz, saying most of the funding had gone to ministries controlled by Smotrich.
Katz continued criticizing Strock, saying she was receiving large allocations while other ministries were facing cuts.
The government is expected to continue discussions on the budget in the coming days ahead of the legal deadline at the end of the month.