Israel’s Netanyahu, Allies Pass New Budget with Sweeping Grants for Settlements, Ultra-Orthodox 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the budget session at the parliament in Jerusalem on May 23, 2023. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the budget session at the parliament in Jerusalem on May 23, 2023. (AFP)
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Israel’s Netanyahu, Allies Pass New Budget with Sweeping Grants for Settlements, Ultra-Orthodox 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the budget session at the parliament in Jerusalem on May 23, 2023. (AFP)
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during the budget session at the parliament in Jerusalem on May 23, 2023. (AFP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on Wednesday passed a new two-year budget, a step that could bring some stability to his coalition and clear the way for it to press ahead with its religious, pro-settlement agenda.

While the budget could buy Netanyahu some quiet inside his coalition of ultra-Orthodox and ultranationalist parties, Israel's most hard-line ever, it also was expected to deepen the divisions in Israel.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of increasing spending on his ultra-Orthodox allies for religious programs that have little benefit for the economy and broader society.

The vote dragged on overnight, with the budgets for 2023 and 2024 finally passing with a 64-56 vote in parliament after daybreak. It followed weeks of tense negotiations between Netanyahu and the parties in his coalition.

“We have received the tools, we're rolling up our sleeves and going to work,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said after the vote."

The new budget has been criticized for allocating nearly $4 billion in discretionary funds, much of it for ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties.

That will include increases in controversial stipends for ultra-Orthodox men to study full time in religious seminaries instead of working or serving in the military, which is compulsory for most secular males.

It also includes more money for ultra-Orthodox schools, which are widely criticized for not teaching students skills like math and English needed in the modern workplace.

The funds also include tens of millions of dollars for hard-line pro-settler parties to promote pet projects through the ministries they control.

Smotrich, a settler leader, has said he hopes to double the population of West Bank settlers in the coming years.

The government’s composition and agenda have deeply divided the country. On Tuesday, several thousand flag-waving Israelis protested outside the parliament building against the budget.

That smaller demonstration over the budget followed months of sustained mass protest against a series of proposals by Netanyahu's government to overhaul the country's judicial system while he is on trial for corruption.

Proponents say the measures are needed to rein in an overzealous Supreme Court, but critics say the plan would destroy the country’s system of checks and balances and compromise Israeli democracy.

That plan has raised concerns overseas but is now on hold. Now that the budget has passed, however, Netanyahu may face renewed pressure from his allies to bring it back before parliament.

Following the budget vote, Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 14 that it was the “dawn of a new day” and said that the judicial overhaul plan would be revived.



IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
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IAEA Pulls Inspectors from Iran as Standoff over Access Drags on

FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: nternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi waits for an emergency meeting of the agency’s Board of Governors to discuss the situation in Iran following the US attacks on the country’s nuclear facilities, at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 23, 2025. REUTERS/Elisabeth Mandl/File Photo

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday it had pulled its last remaining inspectors from Iran as a standoff over their return to the country's nuclear facilities bombed by the United States and Israel deepens.

Israel launched its first military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in a 12-day war three weeks ago. The International Atomic Energy Agency's inspectors have not been able to inspect Iran's facilities since then, even though IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said that is his top priority.

Iran's parliament has now passed a law to suspend cooperation with the IAEA until the safety of its nuclear facilities can be guaranteed. While the IAEA says Iran has not yet formally informed it of any suspension, it is unclear when the agency's inspectors will be able to return to Iran.

"An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict," the IAEA said on X.

According to Reuters, diplomats said the number of IAEA inspectors in Iran was reduced to a handful after the June 13 start of the war. Some have also expressed concern about the inspectors' safety since the end of the conflict, given fierce criticism of the agency by Iranian officials and Iranian media.

Iran has accused the agency of effectively paving the way for the bombings by issuing a damning report on May 31 that led to a resolution by the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors declaring Iran in breach of its non-proliferation obligations.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said he stands by the report. He has denied it provided diplomatic cover for military action.

IAEA WANTS TALKS

Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday Iran remained committed to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"(Grossi) reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible," the IAEA said.

The US and Israeli military strikes either destroyed or badly damaged Iran's three uranium enrichment sites. But it was less clear what has happened to much of Iran's nine tons of enriched uranium, especially the more than 400 kg enriched to up to 60% purity, a short step from weapons grade.

That is enough, if enriched further, for nine nuclear weapons, according to an IAEA yardstick. Iran says its aims are entirely peaceful but Western powers say there is no civil justification for enriching to such a high level, and the IAEA says no country has done so without developing the atom bomb.

As a party to the NPT, Iran must account for its enriched uranium, which normally is closely monitored by the IAEA, the body that enforces the NPT and verifies countries' declarations. But the bombing of Iran's facilities has now muddied the waters.

"We cannot afford that .... the inspection regime is interrupted," Grossi told a press conference in Vienna last week.