Sleepless night in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, but this Wednesday morning, May 24, the budget was adopted for the years 2023-2024. It took weeks of intense diplomatic wrangling and a big financial giveaway to the ultra-Orthodox community for the budget to pass.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered around the Israeli parliament on Tuesday night with placards and slogans accusing the ruling coalition of “looting” state coffers.
It is a well-known anger in Israel: that of the citizens who are indignant at the large subsidies allocated to the ultra-Orthodox, while the latter devote themselves almost exclusively to religious studies, which keeps them away from the active population as well as from the service military.
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Relaunch justice reform
The political parties that represent the ultra-Orthodox are part of Israel’s ruling coalition, led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. The latter responded to their requests and announced an envelope of 250 million shekels (more than 62 million euros) in their favor, an amount which is added to the already existing allocations.
An extension that is making waves in a country affected by inflation and the erosion of its currency.
Benyamin Netanyahu and several of his ministers welcomed the adoption of the budget. The Israeli Prime Minister ensures that he can now relaunch his most contested reform, that of justice, a project deemed illiberal and dangerous by his detractors.