2025 state budget approved amid uproar in Knesset, streets
The state budget for 2025 will stand at about 619 billion New Israel Shekels • Opposition waved signs in solidarity with the plight of the hostages as demonstrators blocked the entrance to the Knesset
As protesters blocked the entrance to the Knesset, Israel's parliament, and were removed by force, the coalition passed the 2025 budget law on Tuesday in its second and third reading.
The budget will stand at about 619 billion shekels ($169 billion), with 110 billion shekels ($30 billion) allocated for security.
The framework for the budget was approved last week, determining that the deficit ceiling would stand at 4.9 percent. The approved budget includes budget adjustments totaling approximately 35 billion shekels ($9.5 billion), which include spending cuts and tax hikes to get the deficit under control and prevent an increase in the debt-to-GDP ratio, aimed at putting the Israeli economy on a path that will stabilize its international credit rating.
In addition, a series of measures were approved to combat the black market, provide tax certainty for the high-tech sector, reform the government services and accelerate digitization, amend the Government Companies Law regarding dividend distribution, and more.
"The state budget we passed today is a responsible and good budget, that provides a response to all the needs of the war at the front and the rear until victory, while continuing to invest in infrastructure that promotes growth and reflects the fiscal responsibility required during a war," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said. "At its center is extensive support for reservists and their families and investments in construction and development waves in the northern and southern war zones."
As the Knesset convened for the vote, protesters blocking the entry of lawmakers. Otzma Yehudit said its Knesset Member Almog Cohen was "violently assaulted by rioters upon his entrance to the Knesset while forced to enter on foot due to the many blockades."
The protest leaders responded against the national security minister and head of the Otzma Yehudit party, Itamar Ben Gvir. His "police and National Guard militias are forcibly evicting citizens who came to defend democracy against a government of Hamas," they said, calling the terrorist group a "government asset." The coalition, they said, "now passed a budget of evasion and contempt. The government of Israel has declared war on the people of Israel, and we do not intend to stop defending the gatekeepers and Israeli democracy."