From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 19, 2025
Far-right Avi Maoz threatens to resign as deputy minister, oppose ‘discriminatory’ budget
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. 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"
Deputy Minister Avi Maoz reiterates his intention to vote against the 2025 state budget in the Knesset this evening and threatens to resign over what he describes as discrimination against religious Zionist educational institutions.
In a video posted to Twitter, the far-right politician, the sole lawmaker representing the anti-LGBTQ Noam party, complains that national religious IDF reservists who have fought for months on end have to “pay a fortune for their children’s education, which was supposed to be included in the The Free Compulsory Education Law.”
Stating that he “can no longer remain silent in the face of the ongoing harm” to reservists, he says that he will both vote against the budget and will resign if this “injustice is not corrected by Monday.”
Maoz reiterates his threat during a plenum discussion ahead of the budget vote.
Speaking with Radio Kol Chai last week, Maoz said that “it doesn’t make sense for me to save the government, only for my voters to end up deprived.”
The Times of Israel Community.