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Tel Aviv [Israel], March 25 (ANI/TPS): Israeli lawmakers approved a roughly NIS 755 billion (USD 206 billion) state budget, Israel's largest ever, after a marathon session on Tuesday
The budget passed its final readings by a vote 66-52. Addressing the Knesset plenum before the voting, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the budget "will support growth and allow the Israeli economy to maintain its strength and continue to prosper." He added, "This is a war budget. And with God's help, it will also be the victory budget." Approval took several hours because there were hundreds of votes on specific items and reservations. The government was under pressure to finalize the budget before the legal deadline at the end of the month. By law, the Knesset must pass a budget by March 31 or the government will automatically fall, triggering national elections. After meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the session, leaders of the United Torah Judaism party backed down from threats to withhold their support for the budget over efforts to draft yeshiva students into the military. The defense budget remains the largest component, standing at NIS 109.8 billion (USD 29.5 billion). The Ministry of Education follows with an allocation of approximately NIS 92 billion (USD 24.7 billion), while the Ministry of Health is set to receive around NIS 59 billion (USD 15.8 billion). Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the budget, "the greatest robbery in the history of the country." The government, he said, is "stealing the money and the future of the Israeli middle class, the productive public, who works, pays taxes, enlists in the army, whose children enlist in the army." (ANI/TPS)
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