Once, a very long time ago, a few weeks ago, when the campaign began, they said that politics is not done during wartime. So they said. In the last few days, they have done quite a bit of politics. The debate over approving the budget was not economic, nor was it really businesslike, it was political and became populist.
The nature of an economic discussion is that it is full of details and numbers and accompanied by tables. These are sequential and changing decisions — nothing that comes close to the superficiality of TikTok culture. Under the cover of a shallow and toxic Twitter world, politicians and the media are dragged into using political slogans that serve a position.
Smotrich criticizes budget department personnel: "Bringing out the soul with a spoon" // Photo: Noam Rivkin Fenton/Flash90
Opponents of the government such as Lapid and Lieberman wave the slogan "coalition funds," which since the Yisrael Beiteinu affair have become a tongue-in-cheek currency of corrupt money – thus making it impossible to discuss their essence. The same funds were already passed in April of this year, and now only the approval of the cuts is being approved. They include equipment for hospitals, scholarships for discharged soldiers, treatment for victims of prostitution, as well as money for half a million residents of Judea and Samaria who need equipment for on-call classes, road lighting and resilience centers.
In the coalition finance tables there is also money for ZAKA, pre-military preparatory programs and youth movements that have done and are still doing wonderful work with the evacuated children, in agriculture and in every possible Zionist mission.
Lapid and Lieberman. Do not allow a real discussion of the essence of the subject, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
With Gantz and Trooper, the story is more complex. They agree on most of the budget but rightly claim that the funds also contain those that can be canceled or at least postponed, such as the budget for the Avrachim, which was increased from NIS 360 to NIS 480 per Avrach. Gantz did not demand to take from the Avrachim what has already gone into their pockets, money with which they buy chicken for Shabbat, but he does demand that the continued aliyah be stopped. This is a logical demand in a time of historic war. What's more, when they have to approve the 2024 budget, which will be dramatically cut, it will be harder if not nearly impossible to touch.
On the other hand, right-wingers feel attacked. If the problem is that the money has to be directed to the war, to the kibbutzim, to the evacuees, to hotels and to collapsing businesses, why is it necessary to cut the budget for "Jewish culture," when last Thursday an additional NIS 90 million was given to culture and NIS 84 million to sports? The pursuit of NIS 200 million from a war budget (which stands at NIS 200 billion) smells of harassment of the ultra-Orthodox.
Smotrich and Gafni. Feeling attacked, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Above all this there is a well-known saying, according to which it is better to be wise than right. Even if the government is right and this is a small and insignificant sum for the Avrachim, it acted unwisely. The public does not delve into the economic details, but if the ministers had come to the cabinet meeting on the budget with the necessary public gesture for this period, such as closing two unnecessary government ministries, public feelings would have been different, and it would have been easier for Benny Gantz to swallow the frog in the form of money for the ultra-Orthodox in wartime.
The debate over the budget and coalition finances is a bad discussion for the Israeli public. If there is a small bright spot in the terrible darkness that descended on us on 7 October, it is the burst of unity, mutual aid and Israeli and Zionist unity with and behind the soldiers. The debate over the budget is once again provoking incitement, division and unnecessary tension in Israeli society at this time.
Cabinet meeting (archive). Bad discussion, photo: Shirit Avitan Cohen
Begin's legacy should be accepted like Rabin's. An ultra-Orthodox child who learns core should receive equally as a secular child. The Resilience Center in Judea and Samaria is no different from the one in Sderot. These funds must enter the base of the budget, through legislation and proper supervision, and they are not supposed to rely on the handouts of parties and MKs.
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