Ahead of budget vote, Gantz slams ‘shameless’ government priorities

The 2025 state budget is a “symbol of the disconnection and shamelessness” of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, National Unity chairman Benny Gantz declares in the Knesset plenum, ahead of the final vote on the controversial legislation.

While the government believes that passing the budget will ensure its survival until the next election in 2026, its “arrogance” and sectorialism will only feed discontent by the public, he says — arguing that the legislation abandons reservists, hostage families, residents of the north and “young families who pay more VAT and whose children will receive a worse education.”

“This budget will be felt by all citizens of Israel all year long, and you will ultimately pay the bill. Your arrogance, smugness and detachment will come back to you with interest,” he says.

“Along with the crooked and sectoral priorities and the lack of national fairness in the budget – there is a historic miss here. A budget without growth engines, without incentives for social change, without vision and without taking advantage of the tremendous achievements of the defense establishment in the war,” Gantz continues.

Instead of making “changes that are needed for decades to come, you are taking the wind out of the sails of the Israeli economy” by not laying the groundwork for the future development of the western Negev and the growth of the domestic defense industry.

“But Israeli society is strong, the State of Israel is strong, the economic base of Israel is strong, the people of Israel are stronger than ever – and we will fix it. Members of the coalition, it won’t take as long as you think,” Gantz asserts.