Israel: Knesset approves 2026 budget, with over $45 billion allocated to Defense

Jerusalem / Faruk Hanedar

La Knesset has approved the 2026 budget, which allocates 142 billion Israeli shekels (45.3 billion dollars) to the expenses of the Ministry of Defense.

According to the Times of Israel newspaper, the 2026 budget, approved in a plenary session of the Knesset, has become the largest budget in the history of Israel.

In addition to the 45.3 billion dollars allocated to the Ministry of Defense, the budget provides an additional 22 billion shekels (approximately 7 billion dollars) for ministry revenue-related expenses, as well as 82.2 billion shekels (26.3 billion dollars) for long-term spending commitments.

The controversial budget, amounting to 850.6 billion shekels (approximately 271 billion dollars), described by opposition leader Yair Lapid as the “biggest theft in the history of the state,” was adopted by a vote of 62 to 55 in the 120-seat Knesset.

The budget vote took place under the threat of the ultra-Orthodox parties (Haredim), coalition allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who threatened not to approve the budget due to the lack of a law exempting Yeshiva students from military service.

According to Israeli legislation, failure to approve the budget by the end of March results in the fall of the government and the holding of early elections within three months. The adoption of the budget allowed the Netanyahu government to fend off the prospect of early elections amid strikes against Iran.

The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the budget includes 790 million shekels (approximately 252 million dollars) for Yeshiva and Haredi institutions, noting that this allocation was made “as if saving goods from a fire in the middle of the night.” The opposition was reportedly caught off guard by this secret government plan, as these funds for the Haredim had previously been frozen by the Israeli Attorney General.

* Translated from Turkish by Mariem Njeh