Knesset Finance Committee sends budget to Knesset for final votes

The Knesset Finance Committee has voted to send the 2025 budget for its final two Knesset votes before becoming law, the panel announces in a statement.

The NIS 620 billion ($166 billion) budget must be passed by March 31, or the Knesset will automatically dissolve and new elections will be called.

Committee chair Moshe Gafni says in a statement that the Knesset plenum will begin debating the measure immediately. However, the Knesset committee that sets schedules and procedures earlier announced that the debate on the budget would begin Monday evening, with plans for the final votes on Tuesday afternoon following a marathon all-night debate.

The 2025 budget is over 20 percent larger than last year’s financial plan, which the committee says is largely a product of higher defense outlays. An unprecedented NIS 136 billion is earmarked for defense in the 2025 version.

Vladimir Beliak, an opposition MK on the panel, calls the budget “bad socially and morally,” and expresses worries that it will contribute to Israel’s credit rating dropping and taxes being raised.

While appearing to support the end product of his committee’s work, Gafni calls the budget “extremely tough.”