A bill submitted by MK Eli Cohen (Likud) mandating that the salaries of IDF soldiers be at least half the minimum wage, was defeated by a vote of 48-53 Wednesday.
The salary of conscripts ranges from NIS 810 for soldiers in the home front to NIS 1,620 for combat soldiers. All coalition members opposed the bill.
Former Intelligence Minister and Cabinet Member MK Eli Cohen strongly criticized the government ministers, saying: "Only last March did Bennett say that soldiers deserve a normal wage and promised that wages will rise. Liberman added that he will significantly reward regular soldiers and raise wages."
"With a budget of NIS 452 billion, they found a budget for Abbas, for IDF pensions, for a loan to the Palestinian Authority, for the inflated Norwegian law, for ministers without portfolio, for two ministers in the Finance Ministry, but for conscripts despite their promises, they did not find even one cent," Cohen added.
After the bill failed, MK Cohen said: "The Bennett Lapid government bragged about navigating finance - there is money for the Muslim Brotherhood, there is no money for IDF soldiers. shame! The government today turned its back on IDF soldiers and opposed the law to raise the salaries of soldiers. No wonder Bennett, Liberman, Ganz and all the fat IDF retirees in the Knesset fled the vote. They are unable to look the soldiers in the eye."
The Likud party stated: "In the previous term, we increased the salaries of soldiers by 50%. Today, the Bennett government gave NIS 53 billion to Mansour Abbas and NIS 0 to raise the soldiers' salaries. This is what a bad government that depends on the Islamic movement looks like. "