Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday morning spoke at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting, discussing the recent climate change conference and an Israeli military exercise.
"We arrived back a few hours ago from the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, following a series of diplomatic meetings, and are sharply pivoting to the critical hours and days for the passing of the budget," Bennett began, adding that, "This is real climate change."
"In Glasgow, there were marathon days of diplomatic meetings. I met with the leaders of Britain, France, India, Australia, Bahrain and the list goes on. Israel's international standing is strengthening. There is desire by many countries – including some surprises – to move closer to us and to cooperate. We are no longer defined by the conflict or by our enemies, but according to who we are and our contribution to the world on the coronavirus, climate and other areas.
"I would like to comment on two important events that also point to Israel's strength: The Blue Flag exercise, with eight of the strongest and best air forces in the world, was held in Israel a few days ago. All of the commanders were here in this room and I heard many compliments about the Israel Air Force and the air of cooperation. There is another exercise going on even as we speak, in Eilat with our navy and the US 5th Fleet from CENTCOM."
"Whoever needs to get the message, will get it," Bennett emphasized.
Turning to internal issues, he said, "My friends, passing the budget must be seen as a major challenge, the only one, in the coming days. This is the task and we must be up to it."
"Several months ago, we identified three main tasks: Forming the government and saving the country from the tailspin and the endless chaos, and rescuing the country from the coronavirus and the Delta strain. We have carried out the first two missions; the third is passing the state budget, which we will do this week.
"Passing the budget means ensuring the stability of the country, that it will function, and that the economy will grow and prosper. We have over 7% growth. We are pulling the country toward stability and there are those who are pulling it toward chaos, to more elections and to non-functioning. We are at the finish line and before us are exhausting days and long nights in the Knesset, but the budget will pass," he promised.
According to Bennett, "Passing the budget will provide us the political and economic stability needed to deal with the major upcoming challenges, for example - the rise in fuel prices and maritime transport, and in raw materials, which lead to price increases. This is a phenomenon that the entire world is currently dealing with. Our prices have been particularly high in recent years. We need to ensure that here, the global wave of increases is not used as an excuse for general price increases."
"What I ask of everyone in the coming days is to join in, explain to the public, despite the campaigns and the misinformation, the importance of passing a budget, that the last time that a budget was passed in Israel was three-and-a-half years ago, in March 2018. Do not be dragged into low discourse. Our weapon is the truth, what we are doing and building in the State of Israel. We are putting the country on track. That is the truth. This is a great, important, first-class Zionist task, and the truth will win.
"A final request to all members of the government, and through you also to the members of the factions: This is the time for maximum restraint, both in statements and in tweets. If you do not have to say anything – then don't. We should not rock the boat in these very sensitive days, not in order to earn another point with our base. There will be days for these things, but right now, let's pass the budget."