BICOM

The Knesset yesterday approved a new two-year framework for the 2017-18 national budget, passing legislation ahead of the parliament’s summer recess which begins this evening.

The new law will still require the government to submit a report to the Knesset Finance Committee by the end of 2017, which must then approve any budgetary changes. Finance Committee chairman, United Torah Judaism’s Moshe Gafni said that a two-year budget will bolster political stability and subsequently the economy too. However, he emphasised that he supported the legislation owing to a coalition agreement, rather than the necessity of a two-year budget.

Opposition MKs attacked the bill throughout the debate. Zionist Union MK Erel Margalit said that the two-year framework had been tried in 2009 and had ultimately “hurt 50,000 families that dropped below the poverty line”.

Yesh Atid’s Mickey Levy argued that “there is no economic thought” to the bill, which “is about nothing but the prime minister’s political survival”. Because approval of the state budget is regarded as a vote of confidence in the government, it is often the basis for political deals and coalition friction.

Another law which was approved ahead of the Knesset summer break is  legislation which will end the requirement of ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools to teach core secular subjects such as maths and English as a requirement for receiving public funding. The Education Minister, Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett will instead be tasked with making such budgetary decisions. The vote was passed on Monday by 41 MKs in favour and 28 against.

The Knesset will reconvene after the Jewish New Year and subsequent festivals. The coalition appears stable in the meantime. However, a much-anticipated State Comptroller report into the government’s conduct before and during Operation Protective Edge in 2014 may be published during the summer break. It is expected to include sharp criticism of several leaders and likely to cause political fallout.