Protesters block Knesset entrance before state budget vote
Demonstrators have blocked the entrance to Israel’s Knesset in an attempt to thwart a vote on the state budget before police forcibly dispersed the crowd.
Hundreds of demonstrators participated in the rally in West Jerusalem to express their dissent towards what they described as the “looting budget”, Israeli media reported.
Opposition leader Benny Gantz said the 2025 budget is a “symbol of the disconnection and shamelessness” of Netanyahu’s government because it expresses “crooked and sectoral priorities”.
Netanyahu needs the support of far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – who resigned in January, angry over the Gaza ceasefire – to ensure the budget’s passage. If the budget does not pass by March 31, snap elections will be triggered.
Israel’s parliament approves budget, staving off government collapse
Israeli legislators have given their approval to the 2025 state budget, beating a March 31 deadline and staving off snap elections.
The vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu’s coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties. They had demanded and largely received hefty sums for their constituents in exchange for supporting the funding package.
The budget, which features a series of tax hikes, will grant the government the resources to sustain the war in Gaza and its policy of settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank.
Budget approval a ‘huge win’ for Netanyahu’s government
Dan Perry, an author and former Associated Press regional editor, says the approval by Israel’s parliament of this year’s state budget was a “huge win” for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government as it averted a snap election.
Perry told Al Jazeera there had been a chance that the budget wouldn’t have passed by the deadline of March 31 because Netanyahu failed to grant Haredi Jews a law formalising draft evasion.
However, Netanyahu “bought their acquiescence by throwing billions of shekels at them”, Perry said, noting “As one example, the salaries of state workers are being slashed, but teachers in Haredi schools just got a raise.”
The analyst said at least five million shekels ($1.36m) were earmarked for the ultra-Orthodox Jewish group and towards policies they support, including the expansion of illegal settlements on Palestinian land.
While Netanyahu’s budget has been met with strong opposition among the Israeli public, Perry said the prime minister likely has a plan to regain public support ahead of the next legislative election scheduled for October 2026.
‘This is a budget of war’: Israel’s Smotrich
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said the budget approved by the Israeli parliament “addresses all the needs of the war – both on the front lines and the home front – until victory.”
“This is a budget of war, and with God’s help it will be a budget of victory,” the far-right politician said, according to Reuters.
Opposition lawmakers held up signs in the main chamber with “59”, the number of captives still in Gaza.
Smotrich had hoped the budget would be approved by the end of 2024, but political infighting among coalition partners delayed the final vote.
The total budget will be 756 billion shekels ($206.5bn), or 619 billion shekels excluding debt servicing – a 21 percent rise in spending over 2024. It features a series of tax hikes aimed at preventing the deficit from becoming unsustainable while Israel finances its war on Gaza.
