The chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK Alex Kushnir (Yisrael Beytenu), on Wednesday called for an end to the phenomenon of the budget being a hostage of the political system.
"The coalition is united and we will pass the budget because the time has come for it to cease to be a political tool and return to being an economic tool, which determines the stability in the economy and lets the economy flourish and work. It is strange that the approval of the budget became a dramatic event when it should automatically go through every year. We are in an unusual situation here and we are coming to fix it, make order and restore sanity," Kushnir said in an interview with Radio 103FM.
Commenting on the allegations that the government is transferring money to Hamas, he said, "Unlike the previous government, I do not transfer anything to Hamas. The previous government transferred suitcases of money to Hamas. Everyone remembers the periods when Israeli officers transferred suitcases of cash. The money transferred now is monitored through international means."
On the discourse of his own cabinet members, Kushnir said, "Some people in the coalition have crossed all borders. They are afraid of the moment the budget passes and they will lose hope of getting their power back. This is a serious incitement that could end in tragedy. I call on everyone to stop it – this is a political system in a democratic state and the boundaries of the discourse must be maintained, otherwise we will degenerate into an abyss and we will not be able to get out of it."