From the Liveblog of
Monday, March 30, 2026
Knesset approves 2026 budget, the largest in Israeli history, avoiding early elections
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Knesset passes the 2026 state budget in its final reading, avoiding the collapse of the government and early elections, which would have been triggered had it failed to pass before the legally mandated deadline on Tuesday.
Elections are currently slated for October.
Lawmakers vote 62-55 in favor of the highly contentious NIS 850.6 billion ($271 billion) spending bill, which Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich calls “a budget that takes care of everyone and fights the cost of living,” and which Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls “the greatest theft in the history of the state.”
The total budget is the largest in Israel’s history. The Defense Ministry’s budget alone will be more than NIS 142 billion ($45.3 billion), a record, plus NIS 22 billion ($7 billion) in income-dependent expenditure, and NIS 82.2 billion ($26.3 billion) for long-term spending commitments.
The vote follows over 14 hours of opposition filibustering and multiple interruptions from sirens warning of Iranian ballistic missiles, which caused proceedings to pause repeatedly as lawmakers left the plenum. Amendments passed late in the process reportedly allocated hundreds of millions of shekels to priorities of Haredi parties.
The Times of Israel Community.