Knesset Passes 2022 Budget in 2nd Victory for Bennett Government

The Knesset early on Friday morning passed the state’s 2022 budget, a day after it narrowly passed the 2021 budget and avoided the automatic dissolution of the government and new elections. The $183 billion budget for 2022 passed by a vote of 59-56. It did not require passage until March 2022, but the early passage provides a measure of stability for the next year and a half for the coalition of disparate parties.

Knesset lawmakers voted on hundreds of clauses in the budget bill on Thursday night. Voting was delayed after coalition lawmaker Emilie Moatti of the Labor Party accidentally voted against a clause to build new classrooms, which defeated the clause and required the coalition to send it back to the Finance Committee for a new vote before returning it to the Knesset floor. Moatti apologized, saying it was because she had only had two hours of sleep following the all-night voting session the day before in order to pass the 2021 budget.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennet tweeted a photo on Friday morning of smiling coalition members in the Knesset plenum following the early vote with the caption “Good morning Israel – there is a budget!”