From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Knesset panels vote to nix Smotrich agenda items from annual Arrangements Law
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. 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"
Following Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s announcement on Tuesday evening that he is setting aside several of his proposed economic reforms in order to expedite the passage of the 2026 state budget due to the ongoing war with Iran, two Knesset committees vote to remove two key parts of Smotrich’s agenda from the annual Arrangements Law.
The Arrangements Law, a key part of the annual budgetary legislative package, determines how funds will be disbursed and must be passed by the Knesset along with the budget.
Members of the Knesset Committee on Public Projects vote unanimously to remove Smotrich’s dairy reform, which generated significant opposition and protests from farmers — while the Knesset Finance Committee votes to remove his proposed 1.5 percent property tax on vacant land.
In a statement, the ultra-Orthodox Degel HaTorah party says its representatives on the committee voted against removing the property tax from the Arrangements Law, stating that they favored “removing it from the agenda” completely in light of “statements last night by senior coalition officials against the coalition agreements between the ultra-Orthodox parties and the coalition” — a likely reference to Smotrich and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to shelve work on a bill exempting yeshiva students from military service.
The committees’ decisions need to be ratified in the Knesset plenum.
The Times of Israel Community.