As most Israelis tighten belts, cabinet treats top bureaucrats to massive bonuses

Up to 300 ministry director-generals, their deputies, other senior directors to get retirement perks of up to $68,000 each

By Sam Sokol 29 December 2024, 9:50 pm

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Sam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"

The cabinet approved Sunday retirement bonuses of up to a quarter of a million shekels ($68,000) for ministry director generals, their deputies, and other senior directors.

The bonuses will also be extended to up to 300 additional senior civil servants, costing the state treasury millions in extra expenditures annually, according to Hebrew media reports.

The move comes at a time when the government is tightening its belt elsewhere, in order to pay for the wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

Reports said the bonus plan was added to the agenda of Sunday’s cabinet meeting at the last minute and that it is being advanced by Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs.

The 2025 state budget, which is currently making its way through the Knesset, includes a nearly NIS 40 billion package of tax hikes and spending cuts to try to rein in a budget deficit now running at 8.5 percent of GDP. Under the new budget, Israelis are slated to pay more taxes while receiving fewer public and government services. This includes increases in National Insurance contributions, costing the average household up to NIS 2,000 ($544) a year.

In a statement released ahead of the government’s approval of the measure, the Histadrut labor federation called it a “scandal” and said that during such a difficult period “everybody must pitch in, including the most senior people.”

Yesh Atid party opposition MK Vladimir Beliak at a Constitution Committee meeting at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on March 5, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

“To impose heavy taxes and harsh decrees on the public and, on the other hand, to give grants of hundreds of thousands of shekels for political appointments in government ministries is not only unbelievable audacity, it is also bribing close businessmen and strengthening the base,” complained opposition MK Vladimir Beliak of the Yesh Atid party. “Never before has Israel had such a failed and shameless government.”

The Globes outlet reported that the Finance Ministry’s legal adviser wrote in an opinion that there were “difficulties” with the proposal as, apparently, the terms for senior civil servants should be no different from the rest of civil service employees. As a result, the bonuses are likely to lead to a demand by other senior managers in the civil service for a similar arrangement. Nonetheless, the adviser said there is no legal impediment to the plan.

War erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and during which terrorists abducted 251 people, who were taken as hostages to the Gaza Strip. The next day, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah began firing across the northern border with near-daily attacks that spiraled into open war by September, and that ended with a ceasefire in November.

Israel is still fighting in the Gaza Strip, where it aims to dismantle Hamas’s governance and military capabilities, as well as to free 96 hostages who are still in captivity.

To meet the military demands of the war, the Israel Defense Forces called up hundreds of thousands of reservists who have been unable to work for long months.