The government approved the Finance Ministry’s proposal for a massive increase in the 2025 state budget for the Defense Ministry during a heated cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Ministers strongly raised their objections during the meeting to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich regarding the decision.
The decision will cause nearly NIS 28 billion to go toward Israel’s defense budget, including NIS 1.6 b. towards humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, KAN News reported.
It will lead to an across-the-board cut of 3.35% in government ministries for the funding of security needs, the report added.
The government’s decision will now need to be brought to the Knesset at the end of its recess for further approval.
Following the meeting, Smotrich stated that “it is not easy being a finance minister during times of war,” adding that it is sometimes “more difficult when facing a handful of populist ministers who lash out, hurl personal insults, and seek headlines and political spins.”
Smotrich then expressed his gratitude to Netanyahu for “his trust and backing” with the decision to fund the war that would “remove the existential Iranian threat and ensure Israel’s security and the nation’s future.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said following the meeting that the increase in defense budget will allow the IDF and the security forces to “deal powerfully” with all threats.
Opponents of decision
Those who opposed the decision were reportedly Education Minister Yoav Kisch, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, and Development of the Negev and Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf.
Kisch said the decision would cause the opening of the school year to be delayed due to a lack of budget for the security of educational institutions.
“Smotrich prefers the security of Gaza’s children over the security of Israel’s children – and this cannot be ignored,” Kisch said ahead of the meeting.
“The finance minister is blatantly disregarding the basic demands of the education system, and my first and clearest demand is the security of educational institutions,” he continued. “If this budget [for the education system] is not found, the school year will not open.”
Ben-Gvir stood with Kisch in opposing the government’s decision.
“At a time when the Finance Ministry wants to expand the budget for humanitarian aid, it is harming the security of our children. This is a disgrace that cannot be tolerated,” Ben-Gvir stated ahead of the meeting.
United Torah Judaism co-chairman Moshe Gafni slammed the decision to approve the funds. His statements come amid high tensions between his party and the government.
The two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) parties, Shas and UTJ, left the government in July, after the fallout in negotiations over a haredi IDF conscription law proposal.
Haredi schools were expected to enter a salary agreement, called Ofek Hadash (New Horizons), which began in the public school system in 2008.
The agreement was intended to enable salary raises for thousands of teachers in the two major haredi elementary school systems.
“Contrary to all agreements and commitments, the prime minister and the finance minister are taking – without consent – budgetary funds designated for thousands of ultra-Orthodox teachers, despite the current claims that part of the budget will remain from now on,” Gafni said.
“Next month, when the defense budget comes to the Knesset and the Finance Committee for approval – which is also expected to be approved today in the government meeting – we will consult with the leading Torah sages on how to vote, in light of all the latest developments.”
Last week, Kisch warned that the start of the school year may be delayed due to the unresolved security funding issues at a Knesset Education Committee meeting.
Kisch stressed in the meeting that delaying the start of the school year would have significant financial consequences, which he claimed would cost more than providing funding for security measures at schools.
“Without providing security for educational institutions, we will not begin the school year,” Kisch also warned at the committee meeting.