The Knesset plenum on Wednesday evening approved the 2026 state budget bill in its first reading. A total of 62 MKs voted in favor, including members of Degel HaTorah and Shas, while 55 opposed it.
MKs from the Degel HaTorah faction of United Torah Judaism (UTJ) and Shas supported the bill, whereas the MKs from the Agudat Yisrael faction of UTJ - Yitzhak Goldknopf, Yaakov Tesler, and Meir Porush - voted against it. Shas chairman Aryeh Deri was not present during the vote.
The approved bill will now be transferred to the Finance Committee for preparation ahead of its second and third readings.
According to the legislation, government expenditure for the 2026 fiscal year will total approximately 811.74 billion shekels, consisting of a regular budget of about 580.75 billion shekels and a development and capital-account budget of roughly 230.99 billion shekels.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the government would not have brought the budget to its first reading without a commitment from the haredi parties to support it in all three readings, adding that the haredi factions are not linking their support to the Draft Law.
Degel HaTorah, which agreed at the last minute to support the budget, denied Smotrich’s remarks. “The finance minister’s claim that we supposedly committed to vote for the budget in the second and third readings is baseless, and everyone knows it," the party said.