Israel's parliament narrowly passes budget bill in its 1st reading

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) - The Israeli parliament on late Monday narrowly passed the 2025 Budget Bill in its first reading amid differences among the ruling coalition parties.

According to the Israeli financial newspaper Calcalist, the size of the budget for 2025 is 619 billion shekels ($171.5 billion), the highest in Israel's history, including 117 billion shekels ($32.4 billion) for defense.

On Dec. 8 following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi said the Israeli forces are currently fighting on four fronts, namely Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and as of Dec. 8 in Syria.

The Israeli business news website Globes said the budget includes an extra 10 billion shekels ($2.8 billion) that has been “set aside for if the war continues."

The 2025 budget saw an increase of 105 billion shekels ($29.3 billion), compared to the 2024 budget, it said.

The budget bill was passed by a narrow majority of 59-57 as members of the Jewish Strength (Otzma Yehudit) party, led by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, voted against the bill, according to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

Under the Knesset procedures, the budget bill will be discussed by the Knesset Finance Committee before being represented to the Knesset plenum for its second and third readings.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar