Cabinet approves NIS 1.2 billion cuts to health, education budgets

The Cabinet on Sunday approved NIS 1.2 billion ($310 million) in cuts for the 2017-2018 budget in order to finance the relocation of the Amona settlement, establish the new public broadcasting corporation, and build new schools in ultra-Orthodox communities.

Cuts to education, health and welfare ministries were reportedly among the austerity measures approved by ministers in the vote.

The across-the-board cuts amounting to nearly two percent of the total budget, went to a cabinet vote Sunday after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon and other senior ministry officials agreed the proposed cuts must be approved before the Knesset votes on the overall 2017-18 budget later this month.

Currently, the 2017 budget stands at NIS 359.7 billion ($94.1 billion) and was set at NIS 376.7 billion ($98.8 billion) for 2018, according to the Finance Ministry.

The austerity measures approved on Sunday were deemed necessary by the Finance Ministry, citing the costs of constructing temporary housing for Amona residents, funding the yet-to-be established Israel Broadcasting Corporation and the building of new educational institutions in ultra-Orthodox communities, in accordance with coalition agreements.

The cuts will amount to more than 1% of the total budgets of the health and education ministries.

The ministry said the slashed funds would also help cover costs of armored public buses in the West Bank, the employment of Palestinian workers in Israel and various coalition agreements reached since the budget was first proposed.

Ahead of the vote, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan vowed to vote against the proposed cuts, saying that slashing NIS 37 million (9.5 million) from his ministry’s budget would be “a hard blow to new plans such as enforcement in the Arab sector and strengthening security in Jerusalem,” according to Hebrew-language media reports.

Numerous opposition politicians reacted angrily to the proposed cuts, with Shelly Yachimovich (Zionist Union) describing them on Twitter as “brutal” and “cowardly,” while adding that they will “deepen poverty” as “basic services are eroded.”

Yesh Atid party chairman Ofer Shelah also condemned the budget cuts, saying in a statement that they “will hurt the services that we are all entitled to as citizens” and that “they demonstrate the damage done to Israel’s economy and to all of our pockets” by Kahlon during his tenure as Finance Minister.