Itamar Ben-Gvir on the Temple Mount (Temple Mount Administration)
In parallel to the Knesset plenum discussions on the state budget, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Monday evening with National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, with whom he defended the Otzma Yehudit party's demand to add a budget totaling hundreds of millions of shekels to the Ministry of the Negev and Galilee.
During the meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu reiterated that it is impossible to break through the budget frameworks and add "one more shekel." Netanyahu also suggested that Ben-Gvir transfer funds from the surplus of the Ministry of National Security that he heads to the Ministry of the Negev and Galilee, similar to what was agreed with Agudat Israel on the budget of the rabbis.
Looking for a source of money within the existing budget. Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir (Photo: Knesset Spokesperson, Noam Moshkovitz)
For his part, Minister Ben-Gvir told Netanyahu that he refuses to do so, and that he has no intention of giving up funds from his ministry, since he says that he intends to use all the budget he received for police projects. The discussion between the sides continues, and they are now looking for a source of money within the existing budget without breaking through the budget frameworks. There is also a dispute between the sides over the amount of money that will be added to the Ministry of the Negev and Galilee, headed by Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf.
Lavala! It was learned that in the first part of the meeting, Ben-Gvir complained about his exclusion from the security meetings and that the political-security cabinet "serves as a rubber stamp" for the decisions of the prime minister and defense minister. According to sources briefed on the details, Netanyahu refused his demand to participate in the sensitive forums, and even protested to Ben-Gvir about Otzma Yehudit's conduct in the coalition, including regarding the boycotts that have disrupted the work of the government and coalition in recent weeks.
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Security Cabinet meeting in Tel Aviv, April 2023 (Photo: official website, Amos Ben-Gershom - GPO)
On Tuesday evening, just before voting begins, the prime minister, finance minister, opposition leader and finance committee chairman will each speak for 10 minutes. The marathon voting will begin immediately after that and is expected to continue until Wednesday evening, unless the opposition removes some of its reservations and brings forward the final vote on approval of the budget to noon or morning. The state budget stands at NIS 484 billion for 2023 and NIS 514 billion for 2024.
That's hundreds of votes in the plenum, late at night and early in the morning. In the past, there have been cases of Knesset members confused in voting, which created chaos for a coalition that had to amend the votes or move on with defeat against the opposition. This time, the coalition enjoys a majority of eight Knesset members against the opposition, assuming that all Knesset members vote in favor of the budget and do not abstain or oppose.
The coalition has several budgetary demands that have not yet been resolved. Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf of Otzma Yehudit demands that the sum of coalition funds received by the Ministry of the Negev, Galilee and National Initiatives that he heads, which currently stands at NIS 450 million, be compared to that of Minister Orit Strock's Ministry of National Missions, which is estimated at NIS 1.3 billion.
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- Itamar Ben-Gvir
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Otzma Yehudit
