Last night, thanks to an agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition partner Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz , the Knesset voted to give itself another 120 days to approve a budget for the 2020 fiscal year. Had the measure not passed, Israel would have been forced to hold yet another election. Haviv Rettig Gur explains how this situation came about and, why, although another election might be the worst possible outcome, postponing the budget vote is hardly good news:
The budget has loomed over the proceedings of the government not, as might be expected, because the politicians have been hard at work drafting the budget bill, and, lamentably but understandably, battling each other over its provisions and the policies and priorities it reflects.
No, it looms because it is the only mechanism available to Benjamin Netanyahu to call new elections—a fourth race in under two years—without having to cede his office in November 2021 to his rival-turned-partner-turned-rival, Benny Gantz. Netanyahu and Gantz have been circling each other for months, the former seeking to escape the clauses of his coalition agreement, the latter struggling to hold him to it, and the budget has served as the main leverage in that fight.
And that simple fact is an unconscionable tragedy that should call into question the commitment of both men to the public good. Netanyahu is willing to play with the economic condition of millions—and, to rein him in, so is Gantz.
The lack of a state budget law, [meanwhile], has hurt the most vulnerable worst of all.
As Gur goes on to explain, until a budget is passed a wide variety of government programs will go unfunded—for instance, subsidies that help working-class parents send their children to after-school programs, allowing them to work fulltime.
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/to-see-the-terrible-cost-of-a-new-election-look-to-the-schools/