Israel passes a do or die budget and staves off threat of another election

By passing the budget, Naftali Bennett avoided Netanyahu’s push to bring down his nascent government

The vote was a major relief for the government (EPA)

Israel’s new government has passed the country’s first budget in three years – narrowly averting a snap election that would have brought down prime minister Naftali Bennett’s government after less than five months.

Bennett and his broad coalition passed the 2021 budget ten days ahead of the 14 November deadline. According to the coalition agreement, failure to pass the budget would automatically dissolve the parliament and trigger new elections.

The 609 billion shekel (£143bn) spending plan for 2021 is the first budget Israel has passed since 2018 due to a prolonged political deadlock.

Unruly scenes unfolded at the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, as lawmakers voted 61-59 in favour of a 2021 budget bill. Later today, members of parliament will reconvene to vote on a budget for 2022, which has no clause triggering an election.

The 2021 budget was a victory for Israel’s new young prime minister, who presides over a broad and delicate coalition of parties from the right, centre and left, including an Arab Islamist party. Defying sceptics, the coalition cut compromises and stuck together to pass the do or die budget bill.

On Twitter, Prime Minister Bennett tweeted: “After years of chaos, we formed a government, we overcame the delta variant, and now, thank God, we passed a budget for Israel. Continuing forward at full strength.”

Dogged by accusations that his party commands just six seats, Mr Bennett’s position as prime minister is sure to be strengthened after passing the political test of the budget vote.

It has also brought stability to Israel’s new government, which still has another three years to go and no other built-in do or die votes.

Avigdor Lieberman, Israel’s minister of finance, also celebrated on Twitter, “The 2021 budget passed ... The last time a budget passed in Israel, France won the soccer World Cup, Spotify reached Israel, Neta [sic] Barzilai won the Eurovision, the coronavirus wasn’t born yet, and Harry and Meghan had just married,” Liberman added. “2018 is long gone. It is time to get the country back on track and pass a socially minded and responsible budget for the future.”

The stakes of the budget vote are not only high for Mr Bennett but also his one-time mentor that he ousted after 12 years in power: former PM Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr Netanyahu serves now as the head of the opposition and has long vowed to bring down the new government.

But Mr Netanyahu and his Likud party failed to strip away enough votes to torpedo the 2021 budget vote. This has dashed his hopes of getting back on the campaign trail and mounting a political comeback in the near future. Mr Netanyahu is currently on trial for corruption, including charges of bribery. He staunchly denies all wrongdoing.

Netanyahu’s ally and Likud minister Miki Zohar told The Independent, “We think it’s a terrible budget because it doesn’t include money for the Israeli soldiers that defend Israel. Unfortunately, it includes 53 billion shekels to Mansour Abbas and the radical Islamic organisation that actually work in Israel and takes money from Israel. We prefer the budget would go towards our defence.

“What they don’t realise now is that we have a new political situation that will open opportunities to make this new government fall. They need to realise that new opportunities are coming for us.”