Israel’s Knesset passes 2026 budget first reading, giving Netanyahu’s minority government a temporary reprieve
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured a parliamentary majority to pass his government’s 2026 budget at a first reading.
The 120-member Knesset approved the bill by 62 votes to 55, providing a temporary reprieve for Netanyahu’s minority government.
Netanyahu had voiced concern before the vote about securing backing from ultra-Orthodox lawmakers who left his coalition in July.
“I think the last thing we need right now is elections,” he said on Tuesday. “We’ll have elections later on this year but I think it’s a mistake to have them now.”
Failure to pass the budget by March 31 would automatically trigger the dissolution of parliament and snap elections.
The main ultra-Orthodox Shas party voted in favour, alongside some Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox MPs, after intense political manoeuvring.
Ultra-Orthodox parties are refusing to bring down the government but threatened to withhold support if Netanyahu does not pass a law exempting religious students from military conscription.
This long-standing exemption has come under mounting scrutiny from wider Israeli society.
Tens of thousands of conscripts and reservists have been mobilised on several fronts, despite a fragile truce ending the war in Gaza.
The dates for the budget’s second and third readings have not been announced.
Netanyahu will now have to find a compromise to secure the ultra-Orthodox vote for the final readings.
The prime minister leads Israel’s main right-wing Likud party and has served for more than 18 years.
He has already secured the nomination to lead the party into the next elections, which must be held before the current parliamentary term ends in November.
