Additional budget funds for financing Gaza war approved for final Knesset votes
Opposition MKs fume over huge increases in funding for the settlements ministry which are unconnected to the war effort, including NIS 98 million for the Jewish Identity dept.
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
The Knesset Finance Committee approved for its final readings in the Knesset plenum a supplemental budget for 2023 designed to cover the heavy financial costs of the war in Gaza and on the Lebanese border.
The supplemental budget adds an extra NIS 25.9 billion ($7 billion) to the original 2023 budget, raising it to NIS 510.6 billion ($138 billion), before debt servicing costs.
But some of the additional funds provided in the amended budget raised the ire of opposition MKs, especially the huge increases to the budget of the controversial Settlements and National Projects Ministry for projects unrelated to the war effort.
Pandemonium erupted in the committee when opposition MKs discovered that, despite Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s strident claims on Monday that the budget increase for the Settlements Ministry was for security requirements in the West Bank, none of the NIS 368 million ($99 million) budget increases for the ministry were actually for such needs.
Yesh Atid MK Naor Shiri called Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich a “lying son of a liar” — a reference to Smotrich’s past leaked comments on Netanyahu. Labor MK Naama Lazimi denounced the Religious Zionism party as “a band of liars who are stealing public funds.”
Hearings on the supplemental budget in the Knesset plenum will begin on Wednesday and voting on the budget in its second and third readings is scheduled for Thursday.
The provisions of the supplemental budget will actually provide a total of NIS 28.9 billion ($7.8 billion) in funds for the wars with Hamas and Hezbollah and their associated civilian costs, NIS 3 billion ($808 million) over the approved spending increases. Those additional funds will be redirected from other sources within the general budget to the war effort.
The supplemental budget will increase the total state budget for 2023, including debt servicing, to NIS 636.6 billion ($171 billion).
Some NIS 17 billion ($4.6 billion) of the NIS 28.9 billion funds for the war will go towards security costs such as arms procurement and payments for IDF reservists, while NIS 12 billion ($3.2 billion) will finance civilian expenses.
Approximately NIS 6.1 billion ($1.6 billion) will cover the costs of hosting evacuees from northern and southern Israel, financial assistance for those injured during the war, schooling arrangements for evacuees and employment incentives.
NIS 1.8 billion ($485 million) will be used to bolster civilian security arrangements inside Israel, including additional funds for the police, prison service, fire service, civilian security squads, emergency equipment for local authorities and bomb shelters.
Hearings on the supplemental budget in the Knesset plenum will begin on Wednesday and voting on the updated budget in its second and third readings is scheduled for Thursday.
Another NIS 1.8 billion will be used for boosting the economy, including assistance for agricultural needs, child day care, compensation for cultural institutions and a “security net” for shipping and aviation.
A further NIS 1 billion ($269 million) will go to bolstering the health system and mental health services, purchasing medicine and fortifying hospitals against rocket and missile attacks.
Following demands made in committee by Lazimi, Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak and others on Monday, Finance Ministry officials detailed the breakdown of the more than NIS 400 million ($108 million) in additional funds allocated to the Settlements Ministry in the supplemental budget during Tuesday’s hearing.
These budget items included NIS 98 million ($26 million) for the ministry’s Jewish Identity Department, one of at least three governmental offices dealing with such matters.
Another NIS 94 million ($25 million) was allocated for the Settlements Division of the World Zionist Organization, which builds and develops small towns and settlements around the country, including the West Bank; NIS 70 million ($19 million) for social activism groups; NIS 32 million ($9 million) in support for pre-military academies; and NIS 12 million ($3 million) for the National Service system, an alternative to military service.
Another NIS 110 million ($30 million) in what are known as reserve funds to be used in the event of unforeseen circumstances are being sought for security requirements in the West Bank, but they have not yet been approved by the Finance Ministry’s legal department.
Lazimi, Beliak and Labor MK Gilad Kariv lambasted the Settlements Ministry, headed by far-right minister Orit Strock, as an “invented” and “political” government department devoted to channeling money to the electorate of Smotrich and Strock’s Religious Zionism party.
“Less than 30 percent of [the funds for the ministry] are designated for purposes of the entire Israeli population. All the rest are for hardline religious-Zionist sectoral goals,” said Kariv.
“What a wonder it is that this band of pirates has boycotted the hearings in the Finance Committee, and now they are trying to go through all these problematic budget items in a matter of hours.”
Speaking on Channel 12 News, Strock objected to the scrutiny over the additional funds for her ministry, especially the large budget for its Jewish identity directorate.
“We’re talking about a supplementary NIS 30 billion for the state of war, and you’re talking to me about NIS 100 million?” she said.
“Have you demanded cuts to all the other budgets which are not connected to the fighting? Or are you just dealing with the budget for Jewish identity?”
Strock said budget cuts would be made and “fat trimmed” from the 2024 budget, including from what she said were the inflated pensions of retired senior military officers.
