The critical government tax bill that is part of the 2025 budget will likely pass after Otzma Yehudit MK Almog Cohen voted alongside the coalition, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at Knesset on Tuesday afternoon after leaving Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem to vote for the bill, which was in danger of not passing.
The decision to leave was apparently against the advice of doctors, who recommended he stay at Hadassah Ein Kerem and continue to recover.
The government tax bill is a central government legislative proposal intended to generate over NIS 9 billion in national income from taxes. Both Otzma Yehudit and Agudat Yisrael threatened to vote against them, each for separate reasons. Ben-Gvir chose to vote against the bill.
The opposition said that the bill needed to be brought to a vote by 3:00 p.m. in order for it to be valid for the 2025 budget. There were several calls to fire Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir because he brought Netanyahu from the hospital to the vote.
Since the bill is a tax reform, for it to apply for 2025, it must pass into law before the end of 2024.
If the bill were to not pass in time, the government would face a significant gap in income for its 2025 budget, since the massive sum joins a second bill that will not pass on time, which was expected to generate over NIS 4b. in income.
In addition to Netanyahu, MK Boaz Bismuth of the Likud Party was forced to leave his mother’s shiva for this vote.
National Unity MK Pnina Tamano-Shata claimed in the plenum that UTJ MK Moshe Roth abstained from voting after receiving guarantees from Finance Ministry officials that he will receive additional funding for Laniado Hospital.
Calls to reprimand, fire Itamar Ben-Gvir
MKs and senior officials reacted to the developments in the Knesset, particularly criticizing Ben-Gvir’s decision to vote against the bill. Israeli media outlets quoted a senior coalition official who said, “What Itamar Ben-Gvir did today will be remembered with disgrace. He forced the prime minister out of the hospital, despite the doctors’ objections, because of vile politics. He sits in the Knesset plenum facing the prime minister, sees him, and isn’t even willing to offset his vote.”
“Ben-Gvir is addicted to headlines, changing the reason for his opposition every hour. Countless compromises on the 2025 budget were offered to him, and he rejected them all. The damages caused to the coalition and the right-wing government are on his shoulders,” the senior official stated.
Likud MK Dan Illouz also criticized Ben-Gvir’s decision in a post to X/Twitter. “Ben-Gvir opened a rich and luxurious salad bar for the opposition.”
בן גביר פתח בר סלטים עשיר ומפואר לאופוזיציה.החיוך של טיבי אומר הכל.
— דן אילוז – Dan Illouz (@dillouz) December 31, 2024
“[MK Ahmad] Tibi’s smile says it all,” Illouz wrote.
Ben-Gvir responded after the vote, saying, “I know many of you are asking yourselves, why is Ben-Gvir voting against the coalition? Why is he against the budget?”
The minister blamed Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for bringing Netanyahu from the hospital to the Knesset, stating, “It pained me greatly to see Finance Minister Smotrich drag the prime minister—whom we all love—out of his sickbed, simply because of ego and his refusal to engage in any negotiations with me, despite pleas and appeals from the prime minister’s associates.”
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