The budget received 59 votes in favor and 56 against, as the media reported. By early Thursday morning, parliament had already approved the crucial budget for 2021. This has secured the continued existence of the government under Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of the ultra-right Jamina party and averted a new election.
The coalition had to bring the 2021 budget through the parliament by November 14th. Otherwise the Knesset in Jerusalem would have automatically dissolved. A new election would have had to take place 90 days later.
The new Bennett administration was sworn in in mid-June. The permanent political crisis in Israel thus came to an end for the time being with four elections within two years. However, the coalition only has a wafer-thin majority in parliament. It is supported by a total of eight parties from the right to the left – including an Arab party for the first time.
Last year, the then government under long-time right-wing conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to agree on a budget. Shortly before Christmas, the Knesset dissolved. This was followed by the March election, which resulted in the Bennett government.
According to the Knesset, the responsible finance committee last week already confirmed the budget with a volume equivalent to around 165 billion euros for the year 2021 and around 155 billion euros for the year 2022.
The Knesset last approved a budget for 2019 in March 2018. Since then, the country has been governed on the basis of the previous year’s budget.