Budget Tensions Threaten Israel's Ruling Coalition
Ryan R. Jones - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Jerusalem, Israel (AHN) - Sharp disagreements over how to structure Israel's 2007 national budget following the recent and costly Lebanon war are threatening to undo the ruling Kadima-Labor coalition. Senior Labor cabinet minister Ophir Pines-Paz told Army Radio on Monday, "The 2007 budget holds within it the potential for a highly severe coalition crisis." Most of the wrangling is over the defense establishment's request for nearly $7 billion in additional funding over the next three years to cover the cost of this summer's war with Hezbollah and prepare the army for the next round of fighting. The Treasury on Sunday rejected that request, arguing that it would come at the expense of desperately needed social welfare packages. Instead, the Defense Ministry was promised only $2 billion in extra funds. But even that amount, and the cost of other rebuilding efforts, is putting a heavy strain on an economy that was only recently dragged out of deep recession. Many government ministries, state institutions and social programs were expected to have their own budgets slashed when Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson announced more than 100 structural changes to the 2007 state budget on Monday. Officials in Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima Party fear that Defense Minister Amir Peretz's failure to impose control over his fractious Labor faction could result in t |
