The meeting in the national emergency government apparently began to burden members of the state camp. A few days before the vote on the additional budget, Benny Gantz sent a letter to the prime minister: "I reiterate my demand to divert all possible resources and coalition funds that have not yet been exhausted to fiscal year 2023, and accordingly to 2024, immediately, to the needs of the war and its derivatives. If the meeting takes place and the budget remains in place, the state camp faction will vote against the proposed budget and consider its steps."
This is not the first time Gantz, after much soul-searching, has gone under a stretcher, but when he enters, he conveys ongoing discomfort. After the threat of resignation, the media storm and the approval of the budget, Gantz decided to remain in the government "not out of political partnership but out of a shared destiny," distinguished himself from elements inside and outside the government "who deal with politics or campaigns for the day after," and concluded: "Even when the shoulder hurts and it becomes difficult on the journey, I will not put down the stretcher and abandon the soldiers, the abductees, the residents of the south and north, the international campaign and the interests of the State of Israel."
These are correct considerations, and they are also true of Gantz's partners in the emergency government. They also got under the stretcher, their shoulder hurts sometimes, too.
This is the second emergency government in which Gantz participates. The first was established in order to deal with two national crises: inconclusive rounds of elections and the coronavirus pandemic. Gantz entered the government only after demanding and receiving a rotation for prime minister and the same number of ministers as the Likud party, which had 36 Knesset members, compared to Blue and White's 16. The price seemed appropriate in return for his agreement to sit in the government with someone whom he compared to Erdogan during the election campaign. The current war is an event far worse than the coronavirus and the incessant rounds of elections. Gantz did well to join the government, but it is a shame that once again he set conditions that attest to his positions regarding the legitimacy of certain factions in Israeli society.
As a condition for entering the government, Gantz demanded that the war be conducted in a small war cabinet, and that Smotrich and/or Ben-Gvir not be members of it. Once again, his demand was met, but once again there was no general admiration for the stateliness of the Likud or of religious Zionism. The latter was willing to back down from Gantz's disgust for her, even at a time when her sons are fighting and killing to defend the people and the country, no less than voters for Gantz's party, and even when there was a stormy public debate about the "concept" and the importance of IFCA's position among decision makers. Mandate surveys conducted during the war (a dubious matter in itself) indicated that the respondents appreciated Gantz's gesture. In a Channel 12 News poll from the beginning of the month, Gantz gets 36 seats, with Maariv last week - 43. The war, unfortunately, did not extinguish the preoccupation with so-called "politics."
But since elections are nowhere in sight, even though there are probably those who wish to add apocalyptic signs on the Ayalon to the war of existence, Gantz sent the above letter to mention his priorities. The war budget serves as a possible pretext for Gantz and the state camp to quit the all-important emergency government. In fact, not the entire budget, but money allocated to ultra-Orthodox education and various causes in Judea and Samaria.
Some of the money belongs to so-called "coalition funds," an extrabudgetary framework that has already been talked about a lot, and not fondly. The fact that this framework exists at all is unfortunate, but no less unfortunate is the fact that in the heat of disgust with the coalition finance system, even the targets to which they are directed are a priori condemned. Especially if they are somehow connected to the unorthodox circles in a decent society, such as the ultra-Orthodox and the settlers of Judea and Samaria.
Opposition Leader Yair Lapid excels at demonstrating the proper approach to coalition funds: If the right people distribute them, there is no problem. Lapid has expressed strong opposition to coalition funds, and has even submitted two bills on the matter. But he lavished them with pride when he sat in the previous government. "Instead of coalition funds, we brought money for good causes," he wrote in 2021, clarifying that the good goals of the government of change are radically different from those of the Likud and ultra-Orthodox parties, which he said were "robbing the state coffers."
The ultra-Orthodox have always been an easy target. The same goes for the residents of Judea and Samaria and their elected officials. Therefore, the salaries of ultra-Orthodox teachers, ultra-Orthodox culture, and religious services are considered less worthy of funding than, for example, the Public Broadcasting Corporation, which receives NIS 750 million a year and no one dreams of cutting it down the cliff of times. The vast majority of the budget is devoted to security needs, as well as to the operation of civilian institutions that must continue to operate even in times of emergency. Yes, both ultra-Orthodox institutions, as well as pre-military preparatory programs, on-call classes and religious services.
Even so, the sums allocated to the ultra-Orthodox are not very high, so they are not really fighting over money here, but are taking another opportunity to demonstrate disgust with a public that even in times of peace arouses displeasure among those who are willing to invest money only in "good causes," that is, goals that are good in their eyes.
If you are looking for unnecessary money, there is no real reason to extract it from the coalition funds, 70% of which have already been cut and now stand at NIS 900 million. But they have become a symbol of waste, and what remains of them is for the use of parties that are not liked by the media establishment, even though even if the government acceded to the demand of the state camp, the sums taken from haredi education would be much smaller than the billions found elsewhere.
During the coronavirus pandemic, Finance Minister Yisrael Katz proposed cutting ten percent of the salaries of senior public sector officials for a limited period. The cut was supposed to bring about NIS 4 billion into the economy. An immediate declaration of a labor dispute by the Histadrut chairman eradicated this reflection, and Katz capitulated and cut ministerial salaries – a nice gesture but economically worthless. The State of Israel is committed to NIS <> trillion in budgetary pensions. No one dreams of touching them, not even during a national emergency. Instead, they are again, targeting the ultra-Orthodox and the settlers. It is sad and outrageous to discover that even in times of war there are things that do not change.
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