The Knesset has begun a marathon session, likely to end Wednesday night or Thursday morning, on the nation’s first two-year budget ever.
Finance Committee Chairman Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) began the debate by saying, “Despite the time constraints, we made sure to hear all sides. There was practically not one clause that we discussed without making changes – and without surpassing the budget framework.”
Two laws have to be passed in the coming days: The Financial Arrangements Law and the Budget Law. In the first stage of the debate, which will proceed until Tuesday morning at 11 AM, each MK who wishes is given 12-18 minutes to speak in general about the law, or about other matters.
MK Yaakov Katz (Ketzaleh), for instance, used his time to quote several Talmudic passages on the topic of public funds. One passage states that if a Jewish society in the Land of Israel is built upon the value of tithing income, it will merit to see Redemption and the building of the Holy Temple. He then noted that this concept was first raised by the Patriarch Jacob “in my hometown of Beit El, when he promised to give a tenth upon his safe return back home. It is inconceivable that in Beit El, of all places, where this beautiful concept began, and in its sister towns throughout Judea and Samaria, our Prime Minister, Mr. Binyamin Netanyahu, should impose his program of freezing funding. It turns out that the budget that is being proposed discriminates against Jews living in Judea and Samaria simply because they are Jews…"
"Obama decrees, and Netanyahu fulfills," Katz said, adding, "The Jewish Nation is stronger than Netanyahu; it is eternal, while Netanyahu is temporary."
Some MKs spoke against the very idea of an Arrangements Law, which in fact faces very broad opposition. The Law is a long series of clauses - each of which could be a law unto itself - that are approved every year in one package deal together with the Budget Law. Critics say that the various clauses do not undergo the rigorous legislative process applied to other laws, but are rather formulated by Finance Ministry clerks and hastily approved under the pressure of the annual budget deadline.
First enacted in 1986 in light of a severe financial crisis which saw triple-digit inflation rates, the first version of the Arrangements Law had 42 different clauses. It hovered around the 20-40 rate for the next 15 years, reaching 100 clauses in 2002, and a record high of 169 in 2003 – many of them having little, if any, connection to the budget. The current version originally included 90 clauses, but some 20 of them have been transferred to the regular legislative path, some 20 others have been removed, and 48 remain.
Among those that have been removed altogether was the proposal to levy Value Added Tax on fruits and vegetables, and a proposal to revoke a law requiring life-saving devices in public places.
Among those clauses that will have to pass through the legislative process on their own are the Israel Lands Authority reform, a reform in commercial television, and the establishment of a fifth Health Fund.
On the other hand, the Arrangements Law still contains the following: A levy on over-quota use of water per household, gradual increases in monthly child allowances, changes in income tax gradations, increased fees for employing foreign workers, and many more.
The opposition has prepared some 4,000 objections to the various clauses, and has the right to demand a separate roll-call vote on many of the objections.
The debate on the Budget Law is set to begin on Wednesday morning at 9 AM, and the vote is set to begin six hours later. Due to the expected filibustering, the vote is not expected to end before late Wednesday night, and possibly only on Thursday morning.