Budget update gets final okay by Knesset; Gantz opposes, 2 Likud members don’t vote

The supplementary budget for 2023 aimed at covering the costs of the war with the Hamas terror group passes its final vote in the Knesset plenum by 59 to 45.

Benny Gantz’s National Unity party, which joined the wartime coalition but continues to oppose many of the government’s non-war policies, does not vote for the budget, while Likud MK Yuli Edelstein abstains and Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel, also of the ruling party, is absent.

The budget includes some NIS 28.9 billion ($7.87 billion) to cover the costs of the war, including increased military expenditure and civilian expenses such as accommodation for Israeli evacuees from towns near Gaza and the border with Lebanon. It also includes substantial funding for numerous projects in the Settlements Ministry.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lauds the passage of the additional funds, calling it “a good budget which provides answers to the needs of the war on the frontlines and at home.”

“The IDF has, as always, full budgetary backing to do whatever it takes to defeat our enemy. On the home front, this budget… provides broad solutions for evacuees, businesses and [October 7] survivors, [and] for government ministries for the benefit of all Israeli citizens,” says Smotrich.