The Netanyahu government decided in 2016 to change the custom of setting the government budget every year and inaugurated a two-year budget. The prime minister referenced Bahrain as the only place in the world that has such a procedure. In his view this was enough to avoid an exhausting negotiation with his coalition partners over the next budget, and opposition attempts to use the budget in order to pressure weak links in the coalition to object to the government. Economists warn of the difficulty of planning two years in advance because of rapid changes that require immediate responses. In fact, it was the High Court that saved us (Israel) again, and caused the cancellation of the two-year system for now. But in the meantime it is still in place until the end of this year. We learned of one of the bitter fruits of the two-year budget a few days ago when it turned out that the Foreign Ministry spent its entire budget for 2018 and 2019 in the first year, and doesn’t have a penny left for this year.
Diplomats complain that essential activities of the ministry have been frozen, including (too modest) aid for developing nations, rescue missions abroad and Independence Day events where each ambassador invites dignitaries of the nation where he serves and presents Israel’s accomplishments, as other nations do on their national holiday. But these aren’t the only activities that have been frozen. The ministry has many initiatives, such as exporting Israeli culture and bringing journalists and important guests to Israel, and now this has all been frozen.
