Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon was wearing a bright white shirt and a red tie as he sat down behind his desk Oct. 2 for a video chat with the public. Throughout the entire conversation, the Kulanu Party chairman attempted to relay the sense that he has been very busy lately. He made sure to show off his past achievements and to present his plans for the future. The questions submitted by the viewers came in as he was talking. It was obvious that someone behind the scenes was sorting through them carefully and picking only the ones that would help the finance minister sell his message to his audience.

In this way, Kahlon expressed a measure of reservation against recent decisions by the Supreme Court, including the decision to overturn the tax he wanted to introduce on people who own a third apartment — the flagship piece of legislation in his efforts to reduce housing costs. He also promised that he would resubmit his law to the Knesset in its winter session, which begins Oct. 23.

The last question was about Kahlon's plan to put together a budget for 2019 over the next few months. News of this was first reported by Channel 2 one day earlier, generating considerable buzz in the political arena. After all, proposing a budget this early is such a rare step that it immediately raised questions as to Kahlon's motivations. At the same time, it also had people asking how it would affect Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the future of his fourth government.

In his response, Kahlon confirmed that he may start working on the budget now, sayingt Israel needs a budget for 2019 in order to relay a sense of stability. "There doesn’t have to be some conspiracy or anything behind this," he said. "It is something that a finance minister does to signal that we have a stable economy with a bright future ahead of us."