Skip to main content

Israeli Cabinet Approves State Budget

Share This article

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Cabinet ministers worked late into the night Wednesday to pass the 2015-2016 state budget.

Before the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reminded ministers, "The State of Israel will have a budget because otherwise it will not have a government and our economic and security situation would deteriorate."

 "Demands always exceed what there is, but in the end the right decisions are made," he said. "We will do so this time as well."

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, affectionately known as the "Mobile Phone Messiah" for revamping the cellphone industry a few years ago, praised the budget as "balanced and responsible."

"Alongside the improvements to citizens in terms of living and housing costs, we are moving forward with big reforms, the likes of which have not been seen in many years," Kahlon said.

Israelis credit their "Mobile Phone Messiah" with cracking the cellphone industry monopoly when he served as communications minister in the last government. Kahlon managed to substantially lower rates that were among the world's highest, a move appreciated by millions across the country.

He subsequently left the government for two years to research how to apply the same principles to the banking sector. Israel's banks have the dubious reputation of more than 200 service charges, many of which are unknown by the average customer.

Kahlon also left the Likud Party, later starting a new party called Kulanu ("all of us") and surprising the political echelon by winning 10 mandates in the last election. He joined the government after Netanyahu promised him the finance portfolio.

Ministers for the most part seem content with budget allocations, with the possible exception of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who abstained in protest of the demand to accept the Locker Commission recommendations in order to receive an additional 3.7 billion shekels for the defense budget, which in any case falls short of the 5 billion requested.

The Locker Commission released a report last month that recommended a one-third reduction in the Israel Defense Forces, partially by significantly reducing reserve forces and career officers.

While most Israelis understand the need to keep Israel's military on the cutting edge, every ministry faces pressing needs and rising costs.

With the deficit holding at 2.9 percent through the end of 2016, ministers allocated 381 billion shekels for 2015 and 415 billion shekels for 2016.

Critics pointed out that with all its reforms, the new budget also brings the first debt increase since 2009. 

Education, health, public security and welfare all got increased funding, and allocations for communities in Judea and Samaria were praised by Agriculture Minister Uri Ariel.

Share This article

About The Author

Tzippe
Barrow

From her perch high atop the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, Tzippe Barrow tries to provide a bird’s eye view of events unfolding in her country. Tzippe’s parents were born to Russian Jewish immigrants, who fled the czar’s pogroms to make a new life in America. As a teenager, Tzippe wanted to spend a summer in Israel, but her parents, sensing the very real possibility that she might want to live there, sent her and her sister to Switzerland instead. Twenty years later, the Lord opened the door to visit the ancient homeland of her people.