From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 12, 2024
Knesset Science Committee chair pledges to shield agricultural research body from budget cuts
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"
Science and Technology Committee chairman MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash-Ta’al) pledges to advance a bill to protect the Volcani Institute, Israel’s world-renowned agricultural research body, from budget cuts that could potentially halt its activities.
The institute has warned that if a planned cut of over 20 percent to its budget is approved, it would freeze all research work and have to renege on national and international research contracts worth tens of millions of shekels.
Addressing the committee, Deputy Agriculture Minister Moshe Abutbul (Shas) says that the proposed budget cut would “cause great damage to science and technology,” pledging to “fight to the last drop so that there is no damage.”
In response, Yesh Atid MK Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu blames Abutbul for the threat to the institute, asserting that as a representative of the government “you set the priorities. Instead of science and innovation, you transfer hundreds of millions to Jewish identity.”
On Sunday, the cabinet voted to allocate NIS 25 million (roughly $7 million) for the establishment of a Jewish National Identity Authority headed by far-right MK Avi Maoz, a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Knesset representative of the anti-LGBTQ Noam party.
Lahav-Hertzanu’s criticism is echoed by Labor MK Naama Lazimi, who says that by proposing to cut the Agriculture Ministry’s budget by 12 percent, “you eliminated the ministry” — to which Abutbul replies that “the previous government eliminated everything, we are sustaining agriculture and farmers.”
A representative of the Finance Ministry tells lawmakers the decision of what programs to cut was made by the ministry itself and was “carried out at the discretion of the agriculture minister.”
Last year, according to sources at the institute, NIS 320 million ($88 million) was budgeted for the institute. But following the war that broke out in response to Hamas’s October 7 massacre, the budget was reduced to NIS 304 million ($84 million).
Before the war, the government had planned a 2024 budget for the institute of NIS 343 million ($94.7 million), the sources added. Current Finance Ministry plans are to reduce this to NIS 277 million ($76.5 million), they said.
If the new cuts are approved, the sources warned, the institute would also have to cut 24 research posts this year by not filling vacancies and not replacing people who have retired.
However, Sivan Yankowitz of the ministry’s budget department tells lawmakers that Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter had instructed his staff “not to harm farmers and agriculture because of the challenges they are facing due to October 7” and therefore the ministry decided to enact a “significant cut in the research institute.”
“This means that if we want to increase funding in the directorate of agricultural research, there will be a harm in [our] support for farmers,” she says.
Addressing a special plenum debate on the budget, Yesh Atid MK Vladimir Beliak declares that if Dichter and Abutbul are unable to prevent the cut to the institute’s funding they should resign and “go home.”
Sue Surkes contributed to this report.
