Day 453 - Drama in Knesset as PM leaves hospital bed for vote

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's show.

Sokol discusses the political machinations in the Knesset as voting over the 2025 budget leads National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and several ultra-Orthodox parties to threaten to oppose the bill, given some of the planned cuts.

While Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have banded together in the past over their political aspirations, the two have been at odds for some time, which could possibly lead to a break in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, explains Sokol.

Sokol reviews the further political dramas that played out on Tuesday in the Knesset, as Netanyahu, recovering from a successful prostate removal surgery at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, was forced to leave his hospital bed and return to the Knesset, in order to cast a decisive vote on the budget law, and thwart Ben Gvir.

Another Knesset member, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who was in the midst of the seven-day mourning period for his mother, was also pushed to leave the shiva and come to the Knesset and vote in favor of the bill.

Sokol also offers a brief description of the fragment of a Houthi missile that landed in his Beit Shemesh neighborhood late Monday night.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

PM leaves hospital to cast decisive vote on a budget law, thwarting Ben Gvir revolt

Coalition factions threaten to vote against key budget bill over cuts, Haredi draft

In rare cross-aisle cooperation, MKs back bill to penalize ministers who snub oversight

IDF downs ballistic missile from Yemen as sirens heard across central Israel

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IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a vote at the plenum of the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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