A marathon debate in the Knesset over the 2021-22 state budget began Wednesday, with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett saying that “three years of chaos are over.”
In September, the Knesset approved the 2021-22 budget in the first of three required votes, marking the first time in two and a half years that a budget has received even preliminary Knesset approval. The final votes on the budget will be held later this month.
The new government thus took a major step forward on one of the major goals for which it was established.
Speaking at the Knesset podium, Bennett said that Israel has “reached the most important moment since this government was formed. After three and a half years of chaos, failed management and systematic paralysis, years in which the country was a pawn in a private game, we listened to the voices of the citizens of Israel.”
Bennett added that “passing the budget will ensure stability and send a message to the market and the world that Israel’s economy is strong and growing.”