Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
After hours of debate, the Knesset on Tuesday afternoon approved Israel’s 2025 state budget, which includes significant increases in defense spending and coalition-related allocations but cuts to funding for Gaza border and northern communities, at-risk youth, LGBTQ initiatives, and the expansion of the national drug basket. The vote passed 66-52.
Meanwhile, outside the Knesset, protesters blocked the entrance by sitting on the ground and using vehicles as barricades in an illegal demonstration. Police arrested six demonstrators, stating that they had “parked their vehicles illegally, creating a significant safety hazard.” Officers worked to tow the vehicles while attempting to disperse the crowd.
4 View gallery
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated after passage of the 2025 state budget
(Photo: Shilo Shalom)
4 View gallery
Opposition lawmakers wave signs with the number of hostages still held in Gaza
(Photo: Shilo Shalom)
Due to the roadblocks, some lawmakers, including Almog Cohen and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, had to walk to the Knesset instead of arriving by car. Defense Minister Israel Katz arrived via helicopter. Coalition Chairman Ofir Katz was reportedly making calls to missing Knesset members, as some were still stuck outside the building.
With the Knesset set to recess next week for a month-long spring break, the coalition aims to pass both the budget and a contentious bill to change the composition of the Judicial Selection Committee by Thursday. The budget debate, which began Monday at 8:00 p.m., will be followed by a “40-signature” session with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an overnight debate on the judicial bill.
Get the Ynetnews app on your smartphone: Google Play: https://bit.ly/4eJ37pE | Apple App Store: https://bit.ly/3ZL7iNv
The 2025 budget, which totals approximately 620 billion shekels — the largest in Israel’s history—was finalized after the far-right Otzma Yehudit party rejoined the coalition. With at least 63 MKs expected to vote in favor, its passage is all but assured. However, critics argue that the budget lacks meaningful benefits for the general public and that the planned deficit increase will further raise living costs.
Smotrich: 'A Budget for Reservists'; Lapid: 'Thieves'
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the protesters outside the Knesset, saying it took him 30 minutes to reach the building from the Finance Ministry. “A handful of anarchists are breaking the law—this is a collapse of the rule of law. I call on the police chief to act. No other country would allow 20 people to block a road. You don’t care about the rule of law, only about maintaining privileges and power,” he said.
live
Lawmakers Amichi Eliyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Almog Cohen have difficulty entering the Knesset due to illegal protest
Smotrich defended the budget, calling it “a war budget, a budget for reservists, the story of border heroes, pioneering settlers, and an entire nation fighting to win and bring back the hostages.” His speech was repeatedly interrupted by opposition Knesset members, with Yesh Atid’s Yoav Segalovich calling it “a story of corruption” and Elazar Stern adding, “Reservists don’t want money—they want someone to replace them in service. Children want their fathers home.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the budget as “a budget of thieves at the expense of honest people.” He called the vote “the biggest robbery in Israel’s history” and claimed that “this is not a budget—it is shameless theft.” Addressing the public, he said, “Middle-class Israelis are fed up with being taken for fools. They are tired of being exploited by a government that does not care about them.”
What’s Included—and What’s Not?
The 2025 budget allocates:
Defense Ministry – 109.8 billion shekels
Education Ministry – 92 billion shekels
Health Ministry – 59 billion shekels
National Insurance Institute – 61 billion shekels
Public Security Ministry – 25 billion shekels
Social Welfare Ministry – 12 billion shekels
Various coalition funds – hundreds of millions more
However, funding initially promised under the “Tkumah Law” for rebuilding Gaza border communities devastated on October 7, as well as aid for displaced residents in the north, was not included. Additionally, budgets were cut for: LGBTQ+ organizations, The National Authority for Community Security, at-risk youth programs, school classroom expansion, national drug basket
With the budget’s passage all but certain, the coalition is now shifting focus to passing the Judicial Selection Committee reform bill. Despite promises to ultra-Orthodox parties, the long-delayed military draft law remains stuck in the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, with no significant progress expected in the near future.
First published: 12:34, 03.25.25