Otzma Yehudit says party will vote against increasing deficit, as minister blasts Smotrich

Negev, Galilee and National Resilience Minister Yitzhak Wasserlauf says that Otzma Yehudit will vote against increasing the deficit in the cabinet today, accusing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of gutting his ministry’s budget during the far-right party’s brief stint in the opposition earlier this year.

In a tweet, Wasserlauf accuses Smotrich of reallocating hundreds of millions of shekels, forcing him “to cut basic programs for the residents of the Negev and Galilee.” He adds that Otzma Yehudit chairman National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir had instructed his party’s ministers to oppose the deficit increase “until this terrible and immoral injustice is corrected.”

It is unclear what, if any, the impact would be of the party voting against the deficit rise.

Ben Gvir withdrew his ultranationalist party from the government after a ceasefire agreement was signed between Israel and Hamas in January of this year. The party returned to the coalition when fighting resumed some two months later.

Responding to Wasserlauf, a spokesman for Smotrich sends out a statement attributed to “senior Finance Ministry officials” stating that not a “single shekel” had been cut during Otzma Yehudit’s time in the opposition and that the ministry’s entire budget was only “250/300 million shekels.”

While the government did implement across-the-board ministerial budget cuts in recent weeks to boost defense spending, additional cuts were subsequently made to boost security at schools as demanded by Ben Gvir “following the mismanagement of funds for the security of educational institutions at the National Security Ministry,” the statement adds.

Wasserlauf “wants to squeeze out additional coalition funds because in the 2025 budget, Otzma was outside,” Smotrich’s spokesman charged.