Coalition government pushes Israel’s first state budget in three years through Knesset

Israel’s first state budget in three years was passed on Thursday, in a victory for the coalition that unseated Benjamin Netanyahu in June.

MPs approved a 609 billion shekel ($194bn) spending plan for this year.

“Celebration day for the state of Israel,” Prime Minister Naftali Bennett tweeted. “After years of chaos, we have formed a government, we have conquered Delta [the coronavirus variant] and now, praise God, we have passed a budget for Israel.”

The stakes could not have been higher for Mr Bennett, a right-wing religious-nationalist whose coalition from across the political spectrum controls 61 of 120 seats in the Knesset.

His coalition had until November 14 to get the budget approved to prevent the parliament from being dissolved, which would have forced a fifth election in three years.

Israel had not passed a state budget during the political gridlock that gripped the country from December 2018 until when Mr Bennett’s government was sworn in.

It took until 5am for MPs to complete the vote on the 2021 budget, with hundreds of spending measures requiring individual votes through the night. But there had been fears the process might take days, with opposition leader Mr Netanyahu playing the role of spoiler for the government that finally brought an end to his 12 straight years in power.

During the debate, he accused Mr Bennett of leading “a government of liars” and told MPs: “We must bring down this irresponsible government.”

Mr Bennett said the former prime minister sought “chaos”. “We want stability,” he said. A budget deadlock sank the last, short-lived coalition led by Mr Netanyahu last December.