Day 453 - Drama in Knesset as PM leaves hospital bed for vote

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute
audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and
the Jewish world.


Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host
Jessica Steinberg on today's show.


Sokol discusses the political machinations in the Knesset as
voting over the 2025 budget leads National Security Minister
Itamar Ben Gvir and several ultra-Orthodox parties to threaten to
oppose the bill, given some of the planned cuts.


While Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have banded
together in the past over their political aspirations, the two
have been at odds for some time, which could possibly lead to a
break in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, explains
Sokol.


Sokol reviews the further political dramas that played out on
Tuesday in the Knesset, as Netanyahu, recovering from a
successful prostate removal surgery at the Hadassah Medical
Center in Jerusalem, was forced to leave his hospital bed and
return to the Knesset, in order to cast a decisive vote on the
budget law, and thwart Ben Gvir.


Another Knesset member, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who was in the
midst of the seven-day mourning period for his mother, was also
pushed to leave the shiva and come to the Knesset and vote in
favor of the bill.


Sokol also offers a brief description of the fragment of a Houthi
missile that landed in his Beit Shemesh neighborhood late Monday
night.


For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s
ongoing live blog.


Discussed articles include:


PM leaves hospital to cast decisive vote on a budget law,
thwarting Ben Gvir revolt


Coalition factions threaten to vote against key budget
bill over cuts, Haredi draft


In rare cross-aisle cooperation, MKs back bill to
penalize ministers who snub oversight


IDF downs ballistic missile from Yemen as sirens heard
across central Israel


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podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.


IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a vote at the
plenum of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2024. (Photo
by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)


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