Likud minister: New budget proposal ‘completely ignores’ Jewish diaspora

The proposal for a renewed 2024 budget “completely ignores” the Jewish Diaspora and the “steep increase in antisemitism” that Jews across the world have experienced since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on October 7, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli wrote in a statement on Sunday.

The statement came as Israel’s cabinet was set to begin a meeting over a newly proposed national budget for the year 2024. The budget includes steep cuts in many government ministries due to expenses related to the war. A spokesperson for Chikli said that negotiations were ongoing as to the exact size of the cut, but if Chikli perceives that the cut is too deep, he will vote against it.

“Israel must fulfill its role as the state of the Jewish people – it is not just our right, it is our duty,” Chikli wrote.

Chikli last Monday resigned from his additional position of Social Equality Minister to “save public money.”

Ben-Gvir threatens to vote against new wartime budget

Other ministers expressed on Sunday their discontent with the proposed budget, with at least one, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, also threatening to vote against the budget if he deems the cuts to his ministry too excessive.

The government meeting did not end by press time on Sunday night.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during comments at the start of the meeting called the 2024 budget a “war budget.”

“At this moment, we need to cover the war’s expenditures first, allowing ourselves to manage it during the upcoming year and complete it,” the prime minister said, adding that all must pitch in to achieve this goal.

“When I say ‘all,’ I mean all government ministries,” he stressed.

The government will fund the war in part by also enlarging Israel’s national budget deficit, which the country can afford to do since it has “a very strong economy that [it] built here during the past 20 years,” Netanyahu added.

According to the proposal, the government will cut its spending in three main areas, which pertain to lowering budget increases in the original 2024 budget, decreasing the government’s budget for publications, consultations, and seminars, and reducing the number of public workers.

Further, the proposal includes two central sections in which it intends to increase its income: taxation on polluted materials, cigarettes, etc., and increasing Israel’s VAT by 1%, beginning in 2025.

Israel recorded a budget deficit of 4.2% of gross domestic product in 2023 due to a spike in fourth-quarter war spending, and a drop in tax income, according to the introduction to the new 2024 budget proposal.

The deficit target in the 2024 budget was raised to 6.6% of GDP from a prior 2.25%, and the war is expected to lower 2024 economic growth by 1.1 percentage points to around 2%.

The fiscal impact of the war is estimated at NIS 150 billion in 2023-24, but this is based on an assumption that intense fighting ends in the first quarter.

The Knesset in May 2023 initially passed a two-year budget for the years 2023 and 2024. On December 14, it passed a renewed 2023 budget, which included an addition of some NIS 30b.