Far-right Avi Maoz to oppose state budget, says it discriminates against religious Zionists

Deputy Minister Avi Maoz announces that he intends to vote against the 2025 state budget in its current form.

The far-right politician, the sole lawmaker representing the anti-LGBT Noam party, tells Radio Kol Chai that the budget discriminates against religious Zionist educational institutions.

He adds that the current situation would see “parents who served hundreds of days during the war in reserves have to pay a lot of money for their children’s education,” which he describes as “very troubling.”

“It doesn’t make sense for me to save the government, only for my voters to end up deprived,” he says.

The 2025 state budget must be passed by the end of March or the government will automatically fall, triggering early elections. The Haredi factions have threatened to vote against the budget if the government does not first pass a bill exempting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students from military service.