Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, May 22, 2023
Netanyahu, Ben Gvir said set to meet today over budget ultimatum

Likud leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu (L) with Head of the Otzma Yehudit party MK Itamar Ben Gvir at a vote in the assembly hall of the Knesset on December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet this evening with National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, Hebrew media reports.
The two are expected to discuss the demand by Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party for more funds for his party’s Negev and Galilee Ministry. Ben Gvir has threatened repeatedly not to support the crucial state budget if this demand isn’t met.
The government will automatically collapse and snap elections will be triggered if the budget doesn’t pass in the next seven days.