By Gill Hoffman, Jpost–
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday announced he will not seek a November election that would have been initiated automatically on Monday night if the budget deadline extension bill had not passed in the Knesset Finance Committee.
The budget deadline extension bill passed its final readings in the Knesset Finance Committee early Monday, clearing the controversial bill for its remaining votes in the plenum later Monday.
The bill extends the deadline from passing the budget from Monday, which is 100 days since the government’s formation, by an extra 120 days to December 23.
As part of the negotiations, the committee agreed together with the Finance Minister to add NIS 11 billion to the country’s budget.
The overall budget proposal is NIS 411 billion and it will be used to cover projects and programs that have been running since 2019 but were put on hold due to the prolonged budgetary foot-dragging.
Netanyahu said he would accept a compromise proposed by MK Zvi Hauser (Derech Eretz) to postpone the budget deadline from Monday to December 3 and freeze political appointments. According to the compromise, Blue and White would honor the coalition agreement and form an appointments committee that includes Likud representatives.
“This is the time for unity, not the time for elections,” Netanyahu said. “Let’s unite and work together. If we act in harmony, the government will last its term.” Continue Reading….