On 25 January 2024, Zulat and the Berl Katznelson Foundation held an emergency webinar titled “A Budget for Israel’s Destruction.“ Moderated by journalist and former MK Zuhair Bahlul, participants included MK Vladimir Beliak (Yesh Atid), MK Naama Lazimi (Labor), Berl Katznelson Foundation‘s Deputy Director for Policy and Content Aviad Houminer-Rosenblum, and Union of Social Workers Chairperson Inbal Hermoni. Berl Katznelson Center’s Director General Rami Hod and Zulat Executive Director Einat Ovadia delivered the opening remarks.
Einat Ovadia: “The state budget presented to the government hardly addresses the rehabilitation needs of Israel’s population and of the country at large. It attests to the government’s goals: to drag out this war for as long as possible, while continuing to damage the welfare and health systems, which were already affected by previous cuts.”
Rami Hod: “Israel needs to adopt an expansive approach, like Britain after World War II and Israel after the Yom Kippur War. To emerge from major crises, a country needs to invest in growth engines, education, and health. We, in civil society, need to raise the banner of the need to expand the budget.“
MK Vladimir Beliak: “The budget reflects no change whatsoever in priorities. While preserving the allocations for social services even during wartime, we still need to strive to maintain fiscal discipline. In this regard, with a deficit of 6.6%, the budget is an absolute disaster. We should have sufficed with 4.5-5%.”
MK Naama Lazimi: “This is a catastrophic budget, which will haunt us and set us back for years to come. It is a budget of cutbacks that doesn’t look forward to a future of growth. Instead of unnecessary ministries and coalition funds, the budget should have significantly expanded the deficit for growth-generating services. Stopping budgets for education and welfare paves the road to crime. Instead of creating a horizon, the state is undermining national and personal resilience and cancelling allocations to the Negev and Galilee. This is a complete distortion of priorities.“
Aviad Houminer–Rosenblum: “This is the most sectoral budget Israel has ever seen. Allocations do not go to the whole of Israeli society, but are political bribery instead. Subsequent adjustments are even worse than the original budget. Harm is inflicted on all of Israeli society, while support goes only to those who side with the coalition. It’s not a one-time cut but one that will affect us for years to come.”
Inbal Hermoni: “Social and civil budgets have been systematically drained for many years, almost regardless of the identity of the government. Even among parties that are not considered right-wing, there is a kind of fiscal perception whereby the way to deal with a crisis is to harm welfare, health, housing, employment, etc.”
Watch (Hebrew, no subtitles):