After marathon discussions, Knesset approves 1999 budget

JERUSALEM, Feb. 8 (JTA) — Israel’s Knesset has approved the country’s 1999 budget of approximately $54 billion. Passage of the budget, which was a month overdue and came after marathon discussions, was secured last Friday by a vote of 48-34 after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged some $135 million to projects supported by Orthodox legislators in his governing coalition. Treasury officials are now at work finding ways to pay for those projects. They are expected to recommend cutting ministry budgets, a move likely to encounter staunch resistance. Spending pledges to Netanyahu’s coalition partners included $50 million, primarily in education and housing, for the fervently Orthodox parties, and around $50 million for settlements that include those in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Moshe Leon, the director general of the Prime Minister’s Office, defended the pledges as far less than what had been predicted as necessary to get the budget approved. The budget also includes $4 million to fund Israel-Diaspora relations. “This decision is a symbolic step in the relationship between Israel and the Diaspora,” said Trade Minister Natan Sharansky, who added that the move reflected Israel’s “obligation” to be a “shining light in promoting Jewish education for future generations.” One of the most fiery moments in the budget debate came during an exchange between Avraham Ravitz, the chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, and Labor Knesset member Ra’anan Cohen. As Ravitz, a member of the fervently Orthodox United Torah Judaism bloc, was announcing plans to cancel cost-of- living adjustments in grants to discharged soldiers in order to save money, Cohen heckled Ravitz by asking him what he had done to serve his country — a reference to the army deferments that members of the fervently Orthodox community receive. Ravitz responded by calling Cohen a “little anti-Semite.” The Knesset later voted not to cancel the adjustments.