Photo: Government of Israel, photo from open sources
The Israeli government has approved the draft state budget for 2025, which amounts to approximately NIS 605 billion, as part of the widely discussed Economic Organisation Law. However, the vote was not without conflicts and disagreements among cabinet members.
Among the opponents of the draft budget are three ministers from the Likud party: Miki Zohar, Idit Silman and Avi Dichter, as well as three ministers from Otsma Yehudit: Itamar Ben-Gvir, Yitzhak Wasserlauf and Amichai Eliyahu. These six ministers expressed their dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the budget, pointing to potential problems in its structure and distribution of funding.
The situation was made more dramatic by the absence of Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf of Ya’adut HaTorah, who recently stated that without a conscription law there would be no budget. His threat raised questions about the stability of the coalition and the possibility of losing support for important legislative initiatives.
The draft budget will now have to go through several stages of voting in the Knesset, where each item will be scrutinised. Disagreements within the government and threats from Goldknopf create a turbulent backdrop for further budget discussions, which could affect Israel’s economic future.
