Environment minister rails against proposed budget cuts
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman rails against proposals for 2024 budget cuts circulated by the Finance Ministry that the government is set to vote on tomorrow.
Silman says the short notice is unprecedented and that her ministry will not accept the Treasury’s disorganized way of working. She warns the taxes set out in the document will harm businesses as well as weaker segments of society, and cause “severe environmental harm.”
The proposals, which were not coordinated with the ministry, will neither encourage investment nor growth nor the necessary transition to clean technologies, she adds, giving a planned increase in the purchase tax on electrical vehicles as an example of a regressive worldview.
The budget cuts come as Israel seeks to finance the enormous costs of the war with the Hamas terror group in Gaza.