Three and a half years, four elections and a marathon voting later, Israel managed to get the 2021 and 2022 Budgets approved by the deadline in Parliament, thus avoiding a new crisis in the country that could lead to a new election.
The marathon to approve the bills started on Wednesday afternoon (3), local time. The series of voting progressed into the night, and the 2021 Budget, of US$ 194 billion, was approved at 5:00 am this Thursday (4), midnight in BrasÃlia, with 61 parliamentarians in favor and 59 against.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, elected in June, celebrated on Twitter the progress of work in the Knesset (the local Parliament). “It is a day of celebration for the State of Israel,” he wrote. “After years of chaos, we established a government, we overcame the delta variant [da Covid-19] and now, thank God, we have approved a Budget for Israel.”
Subsequently, by 61 votes to 57 passed an economic package (whose measures include the removal of import barriers and the simplification of regulations) that had been encouraged by the Bank of Israel.
It lacked, however, the seal for the 2022 Budget — which could be voted on by March of next year. “We still have a long journey ahead of us,” said Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who heads the centrist party Yesh Atid, on social media. Because the work of parliamentarians emphasized the adjective used by the chancellor.
Everything seemed set to approve the bills for 2022, but the decision had to be postponed after a member of the coalition wrongly voted against one of the hundreds of clauses in the package, late at night on Thursday.
Labor Emillie Moatti claimed she pressed the wrong button while reviewing the approval of funds to build classrooms. A 59-59 tie resulting from the mess would mean the measure’s defeat, according to the Times of Israel newspaper.
According to the parliamentarian, the failure occurred due to the long journey the night before and the fact that she had slept only two hours. To apologize, she distributed flowers to coalition members.
His mistake, incidentally, was not the only one. Former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, now leader of the opposition, ended up voting with the government by mistake more than once. Commenting on the matter, he took the opportunity to snipe the current prime minister on Twitter. “Anyone can be wrong in voting, just ask Bennett’s voters.”
The clarification of Moatti’s position forced a new discussion of the 2022 plan in the Finance Committee, before it could return for plenary consideration.
And while it was just a technical step, the session also had its share of confusion, according to the Times of Israel account. The committee’s chairman, Alex Kushnir (Israel Our House), expelled opposition Orly Levy-Abekasis (Likud) from the discussion. While Knesset officials tried to remove her from the scene, the MP reprimanded one of them, pointing her finger. “Get your hands off me. You’re naughty. Don’t touch me.”
After the episode, the session was resumed and, in the early hours of this Friday (5), next year’s Budget, in the amount of US$ 183 billion, was approved by the committee, for later, around 3:00 am (local time ), be approved in plenary by 59 votes in favor and 56 against.
For Bennett, once the bills were approved, Israel would enter a “different era”.
“The government is stable, and we know exactly where to take the country,” he said. Until it managed to pass the Budgets, Israel lived with a version of the 2019 plan, which economists pointed out as hampering growth.
The election of the prime minister in June ended a political stagnation that began in December 2018, with four elections anticipated in the period, during which no Budget was approved.
With a coalition that united eight parties, from the radical left to the nationalist right, Bennett’s rise to power ended Netanyahu’s 12 years in power. The approval of the Budget, therefore, confirms the strength of the Israeli prime minister.
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