JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.
While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel’s most hardline ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.
Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.
The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.
“We have received the tools, we’re rolling up our sleeves and going to work,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote.”
The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.
That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.
It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.
The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hardline pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.
The government’s composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.
That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu’s government to overhaul the country’s judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.
Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.
That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to bring it back before parliament.
Following the budget vote, Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 that it was the “dawn of a new day” and said that the judicial overhaul plan would be revived.
Israel: Netanyahu, allies pass new budget with sweeping grants for settlements, ultra-Orthodox
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Israel: Netanyahu, allies pass new budget with sweeping grants for settlements, ultra-Orthodox
- Critics have accused Benjamin Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society
UN peacekeepers say Israeli forces fired on them in southern Lebanon
- “Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF soldiers in a Merkava tank,” UNIFIL said
- It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory
BEIRUT: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said Wednesday that Israeli forces fired on its peacekeepers a day earlier in the country’s south, urging Israel’s army to “cease aggressive behavior.”
It is the latest such incident reported by the peacekeepers in southern Lebanon, where UNIFIL acts as a buffer between Israel and Lebanon and has been working with Lebanon’s army to support a year-old truce between Israel and militant group Hezbollah.
“Yesterday, peacekeepers in vehicles patrolling the Blue Line were fired upon by IDF (Israeli army) soldiers in a Merkava tank,” a UNIFIL statement said, referring to the de facto border.
“One ten-round burst of machine-gun fire was fired above the convoy, and four further ten-round bursts were fired nearby,” the statement said.
It said that both the peacekeepers and the Israeli tank were in Lebanese territory at the time of the incident and that the Israeli military had been informed of the location and timing of the peacekeeping patrol in advance.
“Peacekeepers asked the IDF to stop firing through UNIFIL’s liaison channels... Fortunately, no one was injured,” it said.
Last month UNIFIL said Israeli soldiers shot at its troops in the south, while Israel’s military said it mistook blue helmets for “suspects” and fired warning shots.
In October, UNIFIL said one of its members was wounded by an Israeli grenade dropped near a UN position in the country’s south, the third incident of its kind in just over a month.
“Attacks on or near peacekeepers are serious violations of (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701,” UNIFIL said on Wednesday, referring to the 2006 resolution that formed the basis of the November 2024 truce.
“We call on the IDF to cease aggressive behavior and attacks on or near peacekeepers working to rebuild stability along the Blue Line,” the peacekeepers said.
Israel carries out regular attacks on Lebanon despite the truce, usually saying it is targeting sites and operatives belonging to Hezbollah, which it accuses of rearming.
It has also kept troops in five south Lebanon areas it deems strategic.
On Saturday, a UN Security Council delegation visiting Lebanon urged all parties to uphold the ceasefire.
It emphasized that the “safety of peacekeepers must be respected and that they must never be targeted,” after gunmen on mopeds attacked UNIFIL personnel last week.
