After a long delay caused by a coalition member of Knesset who inadvertently voted with the opposition on a clause of the budget bill, the 2022 state budget passed the Knesset last night. The vote was 59 in favor and 56 against. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's coalition has thus accomplished its mission of passing its five budget laws covering 2021 and 2022, rendering it fairly secure for the next year and a half.
After the voting foul-up, the clause in question had to be returned to the Knesset Finance Committee to be approved again for second and third readings. The Committee procedure was completed by midnight, and the Knesset plenum then reconvened for another three hours of voting, which went smoothly.
Minister of Finance Avigdor Liberman said after the final vote, "We have approved a budget that brings stability to the political system and clarity to the Israeli economy. Thank you to everyone, and congratulations to the State of Israel."
United Arab List (Ra'am) leader Mansour Abbas said, "For our citizens this means good news and hope. For the first time, an Arab party has taken an important part in passing the budget and forming the coalition. This is an important step in the process of political integration and exercising the right to citizen partnership, and is matter of taking collective responsibility, for the good of all citizens, Arabs and Jews. Ra'am will continue to promote tolerant, bridge-building and responsible dialogue between all citizens of the state."
Opposition politicians on the other hand insisted that the fight was not over. Likud MK Shlomo Karhi said, "This fraudulent government has succeeded in passing a budget damaging to the weak and to Judaism and the Jewish character of the state, along the way also trampling what remains of democracy after the takeover by the High Court of Justice. Our fight against it is just at the beginning, until, with God's help, it will very soon fall."
Religious Zionist party leader Bezalel Smotrich said, "We may have lost this battle but with God's help we shall win the war, because we have a path of values and truth, and we have not sold and will not sell them for all the wealth in the world."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on November 5, 2021.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2021.