PM leaves hospital to cast decisive vote on a budget law, thwarting Ben Gvir revolt
Netanyahu enables passage of bill that will end tax exemption on companies’ ‘trapped profits’ that are reinvested, after coalition convinces several would-be rebels to back measure
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"
Knesset lawmakers passed a critical budget-related bill into law by the thinnest of margins on Tuesday evening, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left his hospital bed post-surgery to ensure the legislation was approved. The bill cleared its third plenum reading, hours before an end-of-year deadline, despite National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and some members of his far-right Otzma Yehudit party, as well as an ultra-Orthodox MK, voting with the opposition.
The law, which passed 59-58 with Netanyahu casting the decisive vote, allows the government to tax “trapped profits,” which are defined as gains earned by corporations and multinationals that are not distributed as dividends to shareholders but reinvested in business development, infrastructure and research and development centers. Until now, such earnings were tax-exempt to encourage investment.
With every vote critical, Netanyahu and his associates managed to convince Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen to defy Ben Gvir and vote with the coalition. In addition, Likud officials managed to head off opposition by two members of the United Torah Judaism’s Agudat Yisrael faction, with MKs Yisrael Eichler and Moshe Roth staying away rather than voting against the coalition, denying what would have been a rare victory to the opposition. UTJ’s Yaakov Tessler voted with the opposition.
According to Hebrew media reports, Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party is planning to convene a discussion on whether or not to punish Cohen.
Ben Gvir has been voting against the coalition over his demand for a larger budget for the police force, which he oversees as national security minister. Agudat Yisrael has engaged in a similar effort over frustration with the coalition’s refusal to pass legislation enshrining Haredi yeshiva students’ blanket exemptions from mandatory military service.
Going against his doctors’ recommendation, a visibly drawn and tired Netanyahu left his bed in an underground, fortified recovery ward at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem less than two days after undergoing prostate removal surgery, as his coalition scrambled to shore up support for the bill after the opposition said it would not offer an offset for absent government lawmakers. The premier returned to the hospital after the vote.
Also adding to the coalition’s tally was Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who left the shiva — seven-day mourning period — for his late mother in order to cast his vote. Former defense minister Yoav Gallant was absent during the vote.
Before arriving at the Knesset, Netanyahu and his associates were busy working to convince coalition opponents of the bill to change their minds, including by reportedly contacting at least two Hasidic grand rabbis with influence over Agudat Yisrael.
Earlier Tuesday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to “take responsibility” for making sure the budget passes.
Ben Gvir later lashed out at Smotrich, asserting in a statement that his former electoral partner “dragged the prime minister that we all love from his hospital bed, only because of his ego and his refusal to conduct any negotiations with me, despite pleas from the prime minister’s associates.”
Asked about Ben Gvir’s opposition to the measure, a coalition official told The Times of Israel that the far-right politician “appears to want to topple the government, because each week he changes his argument as to why he’s voting against the coalition.”
Following the vote, Netanyahu expressed his support for Smotrich while tearing into Ben Gvir for leading the failed revolt against it.
“Today is an important day and a great victory for the coalition,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
“There is no greater irresponsible folly than to shake up the coalition at this time or risk toppling a right-wing government,” Netanyahu continued. “I support [Smotrich] and demand that all partners in the coalition pass this budget as one.”
Ben Gvir has been leading an aggressive public campaign against Smotrich, arguing that he is blocking necessary raises for underpaid police officers. The finance minister has argued that the police already received an expanded budget and that further increasing those funds would be fiscally irresponsible.
Despite Ben Gvir’s claims to the contrary, “the Israel Police received large increases in the last two years — and rightly so,” Netanyahu stated. “The budget for the national security minister also increased significantly in the 2025 budget.”
Smotrich also attacked Ben Gvir, stating that he had chosen “to harm the prime minister and drag him from his hospital bed, and jeopardize the existence of the government and the economy, for political spin.”
Other members of the coalition similarly bashed Ben Gvir, with some calling on Netanyahu to fire him, a move that does not appear to be in the cards at the moment despite him having recently twice voted against the coalition on budget issues.
The far-right politician “decided to join Ayman Odeh and Ahmad Tibi,” complained MK Simcha Rothman of Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party, referring to two prominent Arab lawmakers.
Calling Ben Gvir an “arrogant provocateur,” Rothman’s fellow Religious Zionism MK Ohad Tal declared that it was “time to say goodbye” to Ben Gvir, while Likud MK Moshe Saada accused him of playing “a dangerous game that is not suitable for a minister but for a child.”
Speaking with Radio Kol Barama, Otzma Yehudit MK Limor Son Har-Melech claimed that Netanyahu had called on Smotrich to meet with Ben Gvir to iron out their differences but the finance minister had refused.
In a statement, Likud pushed back against Son Har-Melech, saying party leaders had “requested that MK Boaz Bismuth be offset against an Otzma Yehudit MK and was answered negatively.”
Following the passage of the bill, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid accused the government of putting on a “horror show” to usher in the new year, tweeting that “the public will pay.”
“The corrupt coalition tramples on every human value,” declared Yisrael Beytenu MK Oded Forer. “Netanyahu was dragged from the hospital, an MK was torn from the shiva of his mother and all to put their hand in the pocket of the citizens of Israel and take more money to finance their unnecessary ministers and ministries. This cruel government, which is completely disconnected from the people, must end.”
In a letter to Knesset Legal Adviser Sagit Afik, National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata demanded that any agreements between Smotrich and Agudat Yisrael MK Moshe Roth, who did not vote on the bill, be disclosed.
During the plenum debate this evening, Tamano-Shata asked the finance minister if he had promised to transfer substantial funds to Laniado Hospital in Netanya in exchange for Roth agreeing not to vote on the bill, an allegation Smotrich dismissed.
“If she knows about a deal, I sure hope it’s a good one,” Roth told The Times of Israel when asked about Tamano-Shata’s allegations.
Asked why he ultimately refrained from voting for or against the bill, Roth replied: “We don’t want to jeopardize the government. We did want to send a clear message.”
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