Hopefully This Gives Them Enough Time to Jail Bibi

For the first time in 3 years, the Israeli Knesset passed the first budget in three years.

While I'm not conversant in the minutiae of Israeli politics, I do know that this is important, because a failure might have meant the loss of a confidence vote, which might have put Netanyahu (יִמַּח שְׁמו) back in power, and again forestalled his prosecution for corruption:

Israel approved the country’s first national budget in more than three years early Thursday, a milestone in the new government’s efforts to stabilize its grip on power and a setback to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to topple the coalition that ousted him four months ago.

The predawn action — following three days of debate, an overnight voting marathon and a four-hour filibuster — gives Israel its first fiscal framework since 2018, raising hopes that the country may finally be emerging from an unprecedented period of political tumult and stalemate.

Exhausted lawmakers whooped and hugged following the final passage of the $195 billion funding plan by a two-vote margin at 5:30 a.m.

………

Bennett’s fractious coalition of rival parties had faced a deadline of Nov. 14 to approve a 2021 budget or be automatically dissolved. Recent infighting among coalition members, who include right-wing, centrist, liberal and Arab lawmakers, had prompted speculation that Israel’s governing crisis would continue with the fifth national election since 2019.

………

Analysts had warned that Israeli governance was going further adrift with each passing month without a budget. Department funding has been largely frozen and long-range planning at a standstill even as the country faced the pandemic, an economic downturn and shifting military challenges around the region. On the eve of the vote, Israel’s central bank urged lawmakers to act now, emphasizing the “tremendous economic importance” of the moment.

But for the right-wing parties that lost power in the summer, derailing the budget was their best chance to fulfill Netanyahu’s pledge to “be back soon.” The long-serving prime minister was criticized for allowing the budget process to falter for years as he clung to office. Late last year, he blocked action on the budget, allowing him to dissolve a power-sharing agreement with Defense Minister Benny Gantz.

Here is hoping that the prosecutors will get off their duffs and put Netanyahu (יִמַּח שְׁמו) in the dock.

In addition to being as corrupt as f%$#, Netanyahu (יִמַּח שְׁמו) is, and will always be, a threat to the continued existence of the Jewish State.