Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the new state budget "the worst he's ever seen" during a Likud meeting on Monday."This bad government has lied to Israel's citizens... [and] keeps on lying," said Netanyahu. "Instead of lowering taxes and making life easier for Israeli citizens, they are raising taxes and prices, harming the citizens of Israel."
בחיי לא ראיתי תקציב כל כך גרוע ומלא גזירות כלכליות, העלאות מיסים ומחירים. למה אזרחי ישראל צריכים לשלם את המחיר כדי שהממשלה תוכל לשלם 53 מיליארד ש״ח למנסור עבאס? pic.twitter.com/Ft31ggnTqb
— Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) August 2, 2021
The government approved the first state budget in three years on Monday morning, after final discussions were held throughout the night with the Finance Ministry in an attempt to approve the budget.The Knesset Finance Committee will now prepare the budget for a final law, which must pass by November 4th, or else the government dissolves.The budget plan includes a raise in the Health Ministry budget and the Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services budget, as well as several others."They need to pay [the] NIS 53 billion that they promised Mansour Abbas so that their government survives," Netanyahu accused.