Thousands of Israelis rally against state govt’s budget

Jerusalem: Thousands of Israelis rallied outside the Knesset (parliament) building in Jerusalem as lawmakers gathered for marathon votes on a contested state budget.

The demonstrators’ leadership criticised in a statement on Tuesday that the budget will allocate “an unprecedented” amount of money to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s



allies, Jewish ultra-Orthodox and pro-settler parties. They chanted against “the plundering state budget” and lifted a banner reading: “Looters’ government.”

A series of votes in the parliament on the budget began on Tuesday evening, with the final vote expected to take place in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.