Minister Yitzchak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit) accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of siphoning hundreds of millions of shekels away from the Negev and Galilee, sparking a coalition fight as the Finance Ministry hit back, calling the claims “political extortion.”Minister Yitzchak.
Israel’s budget battles erupted into the open Sunday after Minister of the Negev, Galilee, and National Resilience Yitzchak Wasserlauf (Otzma Yehudit) accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionists) of diverting funds earmarked for Israel’s northern and southern peripheries.
Wasserlauf’s Accusation
In a fiery tweet, Wasserlauf charged:
“When we left the government, Bezalel Smotrich did a very ugly thing. He took hundreds of millions of shekels meant for the Negev and Galilee and transferred them to all sorts of things. God knows what he did with them.”
He added that Otzma Yehudit chairman Itamar Ben-Gvir has instructed the party’s ministers to oppose a vote on raising the deficit unless the funds are restored.
Wasserlauf concluded with a jab at Smotrich:
“If you want political gain, take credit for my projects—but give the residents of these areas what is due to them.”
Finance Ministry Strikes Back
The Finance Ministry dismissed the charges, saying not a single shekel was cut when Otzma Yehudit left the coalition. Instead, officials said a recent across-the-board budget trim was applied to cover war expenses, victim compensation, and reservists’ pay.
They also noted that Wasserlauf’s entire annual budget is only 250–300 million shekels, far less than the “hundreds of millions” he claimed were diverted.
“This is political,” one senior official said. “He wants to extort additional coalition funds because Otzma Yehudit was left out of the 2025 budget. When they rejoined the government, we didn’t save their old budget for them.”
High Stakes Amid War Spending
Officials warned that Otzma Yehudit’s opposition to deficit votes risks undermining critical wartime allocations.
“When Otzma Yehudit ministers play opposition-style politics, they hurt this entire slate,” the Finance Ministry said.
Impact on Residents
Wasserlauf insisted the diversion of funds will directly harm vulnerable communities in Israel’s north and south:
“My ministry will have to cut basic programs for the residents of the Negev and the Galilee in order to feed the schemes of the Finance Minister.”
The clash highlights mounting tensions inside Netanyahu’s coalition, as wartime spending strains ministries and political rivals jockey for influence.
