Mandelblit tells leaders to submit 2020-2021 budgets in a hurry

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit is demanding that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Finance Minister Israel Katz submit a draft budget for 2020 and 2021 to the Knesset for approval.

In the letter, Mandelblit says the draft needs to be submitted before the start of the year it deals with, and lawmakers need enough time to hold a debate on it.

Israel has been without a budget for all of 2020, and few moves have been made to advance one for 2021, which many analysts attribute to Netanyahu dragging his feet in order to keep from handing power to Gantz under a rotation agreement.

If no 2020 budget is passed by December 23, the government is set to fall and new elections will be called. Under the terms of a power-sharing deal, a budget for both years was supposed to have been passed by now.

A 2021 budget is expected to be presented to the cabinet on Monday, according to Reuters. The NIS 426 billion budget is based on a growth estimate of 5 percent, well above the 8% Israel’s economy is actually expected to shrink.

According to Channel 13 news, Gantz, head of Blue and White, is considering supporting a no confidence motion to bring down the government on Wednesday, after becoming frustrated with what his party has described as Likud foot-dragging over the budget.