From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 15, 2024
Cabinet gathers to vote on updated 2024 budget
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam 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"
Members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet are gathered at the Prime Minister’s Office to vote on approval of the amended 2024 budget, only hours after an all-night meeting on the matter ended inconclusively in the face of ministerial opposition to across-the-board budget cuts.
During the previous meeting, which started last night, tensions rose to the point that Education Minister Yoav Kisch, of the premier’s own Likud party, stormed out of the room in rage.
Since then, Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich appear to have been working to bring around opponents of the wartime budget, such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who announced that he had reached an agreement to secure billions of shekels in additional funding for his ministry.
The Times of Israel Community.