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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 641

2025 State Budget

Ultra-Orthodox Jews study at the Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak, February 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
April 8, 2025, 4:17 pm
Does the 2025 state budget encourage Haredim to evade IDF service?
Critics charge that allocating over NIS 1 billion in yeshiva funding incentivizes draft evasion, while Haredim complain they are being ‘slandered’ and ‘delegitimized’
By Sam Sokol
A sign for Fitch Ratings, in New York, October 9, 2011. (Henny Ray Abrams/AP)
April 1, 2025, 12:42 am
Fitch keeps Israel’s A credit rating, but warns renewed Gaza war may go on for months
Agency says credit outlook remains negative, meaning further rating cut is possible, citing ‘uncertain prospects’ for the fighting and fractious domestic politics, but also notes war gains
By Sharon Wrobel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) with coalition lawmakers as the 2025 state budget law is passed by the Knesset, March 25, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 29, 2025, 10:15 am
Poll: 70% of Israelis don’t trust government, including a third of coalition voters
Majority support a deal to return all the hostages and end war, including Netanyahu’s supporters; majority also believes budget will hurt their personal finances
By ToI Staff
A slogan in Arabic reading (R): 'Enough killing and destruction' and another reading (L): 'The children of Palestine: We want to live' are displayed during a rally calling for an end to the war where hundreds chanted anti-Hamas slogans, in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 25, 2025. (AFP)
March 26, 2025, 2:09 pm
Daily Briefing Mar. 26: Day 537 – Gazans rise up against Hamas: The end of the beginning?
Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur on the 2025 budget bill, ramifications for political stability and the war; reports of hundreds in Gaza protesting against the terrorist regime
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Haviv Rettig Gur
Protest demanding the immediate release of hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against the firing of the government's top gatekeepers, in Tel Aviv, Israel, March 22, 2025. (AP/Ohad Zwigenberg)
March 26, 2025, 9:47 am
Moody’s warns Israel’s economy has been weakened by ‘very high political risks’
Credit agency cites risks to high-tech sector, ‘given its important role as a driver of economic growth and significant contributor to the government’s tax take’
By ToI Staff
Israelis protest against the government outside the Knesset, in Jerusalem, March 25, 2025 (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 26, 2025, 1:39 am
‘The State of Israel has to save them’: Thousands rally in Jerusalem for hostage deal
In the capital, protesters gather in anger and despair, beseeching the PM to reach an agreement; outside Knesset, cops shove, forcibly remove several people protesting budget vote
By Charlie Summers, Jessica Steinberg and ToI Staff
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) with coalition lawmakers as the 2025 state budget law is passed by the Knesset, March 25, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 25, 2025, 5:26 pm
In major success for government, Knesset approves 2025 budget, staving off elections
Coalition lawmakers escorted into Knesset under guard as anti-government protesters block entrance. Opposition MKs chant ‘shame’, families of hostages protest from gallery, as law passes final reading
By Sam Sokol
Yesh Atid party chair Yair Lapid leads a faction meeting at the Knesset, on March 24, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 24, 2025, 9:42 pm
‘Billions are being stolen’: Opposition slams 2025 state budget ahead of final vote
MKs launch 15-hour extended debate of controversial NIS 756 billion ($203.5 billion) wartime budget, which Lapid pans as the ‘greatest robbery in the history of the country’
By Sam Sokol
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and coalition lawmakers attend a vote on the 2025 state budget in the Knesset plenum, March 19, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 20, 2025, 1:55 pm
Clearing path for budget vote, MKs pass Economic Arrangements Law as Haredim back down
Ben Gvir’s return to the coalition defangs UTJ chief Yitzchak Goldknopf’s threat to scuttle 2025 state budget unless law exempting yeshiva students from IDF service is passed first
By Sam Sokol
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits with cabinet ministers in the Knesset plenum, March 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 12, 2025, 6:43 pm
Coalition to drive forward budget, judicial appointments bills in intense Knesset push
As the state budget March 31 deadline looms, justice minister aims to ram through key judicial overhaul reform, while Haredi MKs insist on a military service exemption law
By Jeremy Sharon
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in the Knesset plenum on March 3, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 10, 2025, 10:17 pm
To ensure his political survival, Netanyahu gave Hamas a ceasefire free of charge
For 11 days, Hamas has been free to reorganize without fear of attack or having to release a single hostage. That’s because all that matters now for the PM is passing the budget
By Biranit Goren
Ultra-Orthodox posters in Beit Shemesh demand the passage of a law exempting yeshiva students from military service prior to the passage of the 2025 state budget, March 6, 2025. (Sam Sokol/Times of Israel)
March 6, 2025, 8:43 pm
Haredi lawmakers split on approach to budget, which must pass this month or gov’t falls
While UTJ chair Goldknopf threatens to send Israel to elections if Haredi draft-exemption bill not passed, other ultra-Orthodox MKs say problems solved with $280 million now in budget base
By Sam Sokol and Leon Kraiem
Ultra-Orthodox children in their classroom in Jerusalem's Mea She'arim neighborhood, September 4, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 5, 2025, 3:35 pm
Cabinet approves over NIS 1 billion in coalition funds for Haredim, of a total NIS 5b
Items approved include $350 million for yeshivas, $2.2 million for groups that arrange IDF exemptions for Haredi students, $6.9 million for Jewish National Identity Authority
By Sam Sokol
Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox students study at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, February 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 5, 2025, 2:26 pm
‘Do not cooperate’: Nonprofit linked to top Haredi rabbis encourages draft dodging
Haredim are pushing for coalition funds for Vaad HaYeshivot, which tells yeshiva students to ignore the law in favor of ‘the instructions of the sages’
By Sam Sokol
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, right, arriving for a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on September 27, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/ Flash90)
March 2, 2025, 1:48 am
Haredi party threatens to topple government unless it gets NIS 1 billion for yeshivas
Writing to cabinet secretary, UTJ chief Goldknopf demands ‘immediate’ action on issue to ensure his party backs the crucial state budget; previous ultimatums haven’t been acted on
By Sam Sokol
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