Watch FIFA World Cup 2026™

LIVE, FREE and EXCLUSIVE starting June 12 2026

Netanyahu seeks to cut 2014 budget to finance Gaza war

Israel's cabinet has convened to debate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's call for swingeing budget cuts to pay for the 50-day military campaign in Gaza.

Netanyahu, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon and Finance Minister Yair Lapid are seeking cuts of two percent from every government ministry -- other than defence -- to raise about 2 billion shekels ($561 million, 425 million euros).

   

According to documents released by the cabinet office ahead of Sunday's weekly meeting, the biggest proposed cut is to the education ministry, which is being asked to give up 480 million shekels.

   

Welfare and social services are being asked for 62.6 million and health spending is to be trimmed by 43 million.

News that makes sense

Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

   

Welfare Minister Meir Cohen protested, saying there was no more fat on his budget to trim.

   

"From whom will we take? From those who have nothing to put in their children's sandwiches for school?" he said on Israeli army radio.

   

Netanyahu's own office, which is responsible for the domestic and foreign intelligence agencies, the Atomic Energy Commission and other departments, is to lose 33 million.

   

The foreign ministry, long bedevilled by dwindling budget allocations and rocked earlier this year by a strike of senior diplomats and a lockout of the foreign minister from his Jerusalem office, needs to trim 11.9 million shekels.

   

The original 2014 budget was itself an austerity package which Lapid said was essential for the country's economic health.

   

It was to have cut 3 billion shekels from defence spending but after hard lobbying from Yaalon 2.75 billion shekels were reinstated.

   

Lapid warned at the time that if defence spending were not reined in the axe would fall on health, education and social spending.

   

Sunday's cabinet session took place in southern Israel, near the Gaza border, in solidarity with Israelis pounded by thousands of rockets and mortar rounds until Tuesday's truce.

   

"I hope that this quiet will continue, but we are prepared for any scenario," Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling the meeting.


2 min read

Published

Source: AFP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News straight to your inbox

Sign up now for daily news from Australia and around the world. You can also subscribe to Insight's weekly newsletter for in-depth features and first-person stories.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Follow SBS News

Download our apps

Listen to our podcasts

Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service

Stream now

Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world