Only 43 MKs voted for the budget: 38 from the Likud, and the five United Torah Judaism (UTJ) Knesset members.
One Likud Knesset Member, Eli Aflalo, was hospitalized, and another, David Levy, said he would vote against the budget in protest of its social welfare cuts but instead skipped the vote altogether. The Shas party decided at the last minute to vote against the budget.
Shinui Party leader Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said that ministers from Shinui did not plan on tendering their resignations despite the fact that PM Sharon has announced his intention to fire them. Lapid addressed the Knesset and was attacked verbally not only by the Hareidi-religious MKs but by Knesset members from the Likud Party and One Israel. Apparently in preparation for the election campaign that may be upcoming, Lapid stood his ground, saying he refuses to vote for a budget that allocates nearly 300 million shekels to a hareidi party.
Hareidi MKs have accused Lapid of anti-Semitism and the sentiment was echoed by Likud Party chairman Gideon Saar who said that Shinui was a discriminatory party that objected to giving money to kindergartens simply because the children are religious. Saar responded to heckling from Shinui MKs, saying: "You were quiet for two years, you can be quiet for a little longer."
PM Sharon promptly fired Shinui's four government ministers. He said today that there is nothing more he can do to entice Shinui to change its mind, and that he cannot understand why Shinui is taking this action.
"Whenever any topic of a Jewish nature came up in the Cabinet, Shinui was against," Sharon told reporters today.
The opposition's National Religious Party had been planning to vote for the budget, and even reached an agreement to receive 130 million shekels for its educational institutions and other interests. However, the issue of the Dovrat Committee educational reforms still divides the Likud and NRP negotiators.
The NRP agreed to support the budget only with a written agreement stating that the reforms will be carried out "in coordination" with the NRP, while Education Minister Limor Livnat of the Likud insists she will do so "in consultation" with the NRP. The NRP, whose Mizrachi movement is the father of the state's public-religious school system, refuses to accept a change to a five-day school week.
Prime Minister Sharon hinted that he is planning to initiate coalition negotiations with Labor immediately, following tonight's defeat. The Likud's Central Committee has rejected such overtures in the past, but left open the possibility of Labor's inclusion in the government if a religious party also joined. Sharon is therefore planning to ask UTJ to join as well.
Likud party hack Uzi Cohen, the deputy mayor of Raanana with great political clout in the Likud, said today that he had "reached an agreement" with Shimon Peres that Labor and UTJ would enter the coalition, but without receiving Cabinet portfolios.
Despite Cohen's remarks, a majority for this plan cannot be taken for granted in the Likud Central Committee. Much of the Likud membership is against the disengagement plan, which a government with Labor would surely promote.
If the Labor-Likud plan is rejected, the only other alternative is new elections.
One Likud Knesset Member, Eli Aflalo, was hospitalized, and another, David Levy, said he would vote against the budget in protest of its social welfare cuts but instead skipped the vote altogether. The Shas party decided at the last minute to vote against the budget.
Shinui Party leader Justice Minister Yosef Lapid said that ministers from Shinui did not plan on tendering their resignations despite the fact that PM Sharon has announced his intention to fire them. Lapid addressed the Knesset and was attacked verbally not only by the Hareidi-religious MKs but by Knesset members from the Likud Party and One Israel. Apparently in preparation for the election campaign that may be upcoming, Lapid stood his ground, saying he refuses to vote for a budget that allocates nearly 300 million shekels to a hareidi party.
Hareidi MKs have accused Lapid of anti-Semitism and the sentiment was echoed by Likud Party chairman Gideon Saar who said that Shinui was a discriminatory party that objected to giving money to kindergartens simply because the children are religious. Saar responded to heckling from Shinui MKs, saying: "You were quiet for two years, you can be quiet for a little longer."
PM Sharon promptly fired Shinui's four government ministers. He said today that there is nothing more he can do to entice Shinui to change its mind, and that he cannot understand why Shinui is taking this action.
"Whenever any topic of a Jewish nature came up in the Cabinet, Shinui was against," Sharon told reporters today.
The opposition's National Religious Party had been planning to vote for the budget, and even reached an agreement to receive 130 million shekels for its educational institutions and other interests. However, the issue of the Dovrat Committee educational reforms still divides the Likud and NRP negotiators.
The NRP agreed to support the budget only with a written agreement stating that the reforms will be carried out "in coordination" with the NRP, while Education Minister Limor Livnat of the Likud insists she will do so "in consultation" with the NRP. The NRP, whose Mizrachi movement is the father of the state's public-religious school system, refuses to accept a change to a five-day school week.
Prime Minister Sharon hinted that he is planning to initiate coalition negotiations with Labor immediately, following tonight's defeat. The Likud's Central Committee has rejected such overtures in the past, but left open the possibility of Labor's inclusion in the government if a religious party also joined. Sharon is therefore planning to ask UTJ to join as well.
Likud party hack Uzi Cohen, the deputy mayor of Raanana with great political clout in the Likud, said today that he had "reached an agreement" with Shimon Peres that Labor and UTJ would enter the coalition, but without receiving Cabinet portfolios.
Despite Cohen's remarks, a majority for this plan cannot be taken for granted in the Likud Central Committee. Much of the Likud membership is against the disengagement plan, which a government with Labor would surely promote.
If the Labor-Likud plan is rejected, the only other alternative is new elections.