MK Boaz Bismuth in an interview with Tal Shalev, May 18, 2023 (Stills: Reuven Castro)
Next week, the marathon votes will be held in the Knesset plenum to approve the state budget for 2024-2023. The final stretch is underway against the backdrop of threats from Otzma Yehudit Chairman, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and members of his party about cutting funds for the Negev and Galilee, as well as Agudat Israel's demands for additional funds.
MK Boaz Bismuth was a guest at the Walla Studio! Referring to Ben-Gvir's threats, Tal Shalev said: "It's hard to work with politicians. I say to my friend Itamar Ben-Gvir: We can reach 61 in other ways as well, but let's maintain the situation. I don't see the government falling apart. Ben-Gvir, like us, has a constituency and has an expectation. We have work to do. It is permissible to quarrel in politics. The Likud did not win 61 seats, we must remember."
There are other partners like Goldknopf who is causing problems ahead of the budget
"That's politics. There is nothing new here. There is one essential thing between the budget now and before. In the previous government, when no one said a word, it's hard to forget the money the Muslim Brotherhood received. Everyone was silent. There were no such conversations at all."
"Don't get excited about battles in politics." Bismuth at Walla Studio! (Photo: Reuven Castro)
Another crisis that developed this week was with the local government and the strike by the local authorities following the approval of the Arnona Fund Law in its second and third readings in the Finance Committee. "Don't get excited about battles in politics. That's part of it. These are battles in the family. If you look at the big picture, it's not like her shout. You take found money. Don't take from anyone. Just divide a little differently. We want to encourage housing, we want to encourage the periphery," Bismuth said.
The Arnona fund does not necessarily take from the center to the periphery," they again accuse the
ultra-Orthodox of taking money. Jerusalem is also giving. Bnei Brak too. How much ignorance there is in this story. Let's take Tel Aviv – 62% of those who come to the office are not Tel Aviv residents. What happens if they take the money of those offices and take them elsewhere? Attack the deficit and inaccurate budget. Who says that? Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance. Where was the Arnona Fund born? Senior officials brought it. The amount is low."
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"A friend and flesh of our flesh." Haim Bibas (Photo: Knesset Spokesperson, Danny Shem Tov)
Haim Bibas, head of the local government and a senior Likud official, led the strike of the local government and was severely criticized at home. "He is a friend and flesh of our flesh," the Likud MK admitted in the Walla Studio. "We will solve these problems." However, Bismuth also quipped: "There are more municipal elections coming up, right? You can't disconnect local politics from the November elections."
Bibas said that if you tell the truth in the Likud, you are a leftist: "A leftist is not a
curse. Right-handed isn't either. They even say it's a compliment. I've been voting in the Likud all my life, but for a few months in the faction. In faction meetings there are also things that leak out. There are Knesset members who think differently and stay alive. In the Likud you can visit from the top down."
Perhaps the vote he took represents a significant portion of Likud voters"In the Likud
, it is permissible to disagree. But there is factional discipline. There are those who want it as it is and perhaps those who want it at a different pace. Reality has proven that the great challenge is to be attentive to the minority as well."
"There are a handful who have crossed the border and crossed every possible red line." Bismuth (Photo: Reuven Castro)
In recent months, the same people has been going through a process of division and division. You've experienced it
too"We are attentive to the public. The public wanted legal reform. We show responsibility, we are considerate of the minority, but personally I think that there are a handful who crossed the line and crossed every possible red line. A person expelled from a synagogue like me, liberal neighbors will come downstairs under my house and shout at me to go back to France. It can't be that we're in France, me and members of the opposition, and they're joining the anti-Israel demonstrators."
Is legal reform alive or dead?
"It will pass. I very much hope that it will pass at this conference. It is bound by reality. We've known each other for many years. The opposition is not made of one skin. Lapid and Michaeli's struggle is with the protest leaders. There are people, especially in the state camp, who understood that there is a challenge to pass the reform while maintaining unity among our people."
And if there is no agreement, should it be transferred unilaterally?
"We're not there. I'm very optimistic. Reform will be because we are committed to it. I'm not an advocate of standing with a stopwatch in my hand."
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- Boaz Bismuth
- Itamar Ben-Gvir
- The Legal Revolution
- Arnona
- Haim Bibas