Addressing lawmakers during a late-night debate ahead of final votes on the 2026 state budget, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich defends the government’s handling of the country’s wartime economy, stating that “the shekel is stronger than ever.”
The stock market has risen, “high-tech investments are breaking records, unemployment is at an all-time low, and inflation is falling. Israel’s macro data is amazing the world and beating forecasts,” he says.
“The economy of the State of Israel, during a long and expensive war, is demonstrating such amazing performance. The core of this budget is an addition of tens of billions so that we can conclude the campaign and dramatically improve our geopolitical and diplomatic standing. We will be able to dismantle and reassemble the Middle East. This budget allows the country to win.”
Smotrich adds that he believes Israel can dismantle monopolies and lower the cost of living, adding that the government “will serve out its days and complete its missions in security, the economy, and the reform of the judicial system.”
In response, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid tells lawmakers that the budget is “the biggest theft in the history of the country.”
“You are hoping that the public is stupid and doesn’t understand what you are putting forth here today. That they don’t understand that this isn’t a budget; it’s a robbery,” he says.
Lapid claims the coalition has allocated billions of shekels in coalition funds for “corruption and draft evasion,” adding that this money could have been used to build “over 150,000” bomb shelters.
“Ask the residents of Kiryat Shmona what they think about the priorities of a budget that prefers coalition funds for parties over funds for shelters. Ask the residents of Arad, Dimona, and Metula. Road accidents are at a peak, yet in this budget, you cut 46 percent of the road safety budget,” he says.
Other cuts include hundreds of millions for classroom construction, tens of millions for Holocaust survivors, and 17% of the budget for building public shelters.
“The Israeli public is not stupid. They understand that this budget is a bonanza for the corrupt and the draft dodgers who are celebrating at our expense. The next budget will be entirely directed toward the serving, working, tax-paying public: the Israeli middle class, all the people who are the primary victims of this broken and crooked budget.”