Knesset OK’s 2005 budget
Knesset members approve contentious budget by 58-36 margin, with one abstention, clearing last hurdle before pullout plan’s implementation. Vote preceded by heated debate
JERUSALEM - The Knesset has approved the state budget by a 58-36 margin, with one abstention, averting the government’s fall and clearing the final hurdle before the disengagement plan’s implementation.
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took the podium immediately after the vote and praised coalition members for pulling together and “succeeding in extracting Israel’s economy from a crisis situation.”
“If this cooperation continues, first and foremost between me and the prime minister, things will work out,” Netanyahu said.
Earlier, the Knesset approved the economic policy law (Economic Arrangement Law,) which accompanies the budget, by a 62-38 margin. Likud “rebels” who oppose the pullout were among those who voted against the law.
Meanwhile, nine Likud members voted against the budget itself.
The budget’s approval is expected to be followed by a round of government appointments.
Likud Knesset Member Ronnie Bar-On is expected to be appointed as Immigrant Absorption Minister, while Labor Knesset Member Ephraim Sneh will likely become the next Science Minister.
'That’s the right policy'
The budget vote was preceded by a heated debate, with some Knesset members warmly endorsing the economic plan and others choosing to harshly condemn it.
Netanyahu delivered an impassioned speech in support of the budget and called on Knesset members to back it.
“The government is designating billions to proper socio-economic assistance to those who cannot go out and work,” he said. “That’s the right policy.”
Moreover, local economic reforms have been praised by international rating agencies, Netanyahu told Knesset members.
“Today we give more to medicines and the elderly… because we deserted the flawed policy of misdirected government allowances,” he said.
The government is privatizing banks, decreasing the reliance on foreign labor, and encouraging Israelis to hit the job market, Netanyahu said.
“We must distinguish between two population sectors, those who can work and those who cannot,” he said. “Those who can work should be working. This means social justice and a growing economy.”
‘Jewish heart covered by pig fat’
However, Shas Chairman Eli Yishai said the budget vote marks a “very sad day.”
“This is the harshest budget the State of Israel has ever known,” he said. “Can anyone here…look at the tears in the eyes of the hungry children?”
Yishai also criticized Shas’ archrival Shinui, characterizing the party as a “mishap,” and saying the faction is slated to disappear.
Shinui Chairman Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, who spoke after Yishai, defended his party’s policies and said it supports the budget in order to earmark extra funds for university students.
“We are proud we can help students and boost higher education,” he said.
Yachad Knesset Member Yossi Sarid, however, sounded less optimistic.
“This is a cruel state,” he said. “No country treats its weak as cruelly as Israel does.”
“Where is the Jewish heart?” Sarid asked later in his speech. “This heart has been covered by thick layers of fat a long time ago, pig fat I would say.”
