The parliament in Jerusalem wanted to start voting in a marathon session on Wednesday evening. It is unclear how long it will take to get the result.
According to media reports, thousands of right-wing demonstrators protested against Bennett’s government on Tuesday evening in Tel Aviv. They accused the prime minister of electoral fraud because he also included an Arab party and left-wing parties in his coalition.
Bennett himself said on Wednesday in the cabinet: “My friends, taking leave of the budget must be seen as a great challenge, the only one in the coming days.” If the budget for 2021 is not approved by November 14, the Knesset will automatically dissolve. A new election would then have to take place 90 days later. This also applies in the event that the government loses the vote on the budget beforehand, said a spokesman for Speaker of Parliament Mickey Levy.
The government also wants to approve the budget for 2022. According to the spokesman, the vote could not be completed until Friday night at the earliest – but possibly not until Sunday.
Last year, the government under long-time right-wing conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to reach an agreement on a budget. Shortly before Christmas, the Knesset dissolved. The election followed in March.
The current government was sworn in in mid-June. Israel’s political crisis 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.
In recent weeks, Bennett had called on the coalition partners to stick together so as not to endanger the narrow majority in the Knesset and thus the continued existence of the government. For example, the members of the Arab Raam party had repeatedly criticized the government for failing to implement financial and substantive promises for the Arab sector.
Conflicts have recently intensified between the right and left coalition parties: the decision to publish tenders for the marketing of more than 1,300 settler apartments in the occupied West Bank was criticized by the left-liberal Meretz party.
Jonathan Rynhold, a professor of politics at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, was nevertheless optimistic that the government would approve the budget. However, it remains exciting until the end. “It’s tight. Netanyahu will try until the very last second to get a person or two not to come. “
The responsible finance committee of the Knesset has already confirmed the budget with a volume equivalent to 165 billion euros for 2021 and 155 billion euros for 2022. The previous time that the Knesset passed a budget was in March 2018 for 2019. Since then, the country has been governed on the basis of the previous year’s budget.