Israel parliament approves 2025 state budget in final vote

Israel’s government managed to pass one of the most controversial state budgets in years on Tuesday, in a major victory for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The budget, worth $205 billion, passed its third and final reading by 66 votes to 52, well before the March 31 deadline, which if exceeded would have prompted elections. The far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that “This is a budget of war and with God’s help it will be a budget of victory”.Protesters, who are against the budget and Mr Netanyahu’s coalition, and many of whom want the government to do more to get hostages out of Gaza, tried to block members of parliament from entering the building.