Israel cuts education, transport budgets for defense procurement

In an emergency cabinet session, ministers approved sharp across-the-board cuts to the baseline budgets of all government ministries. The move is designed to fund urgent defense procurement and proceeds without exemptions and without touching coalition funds. The decision illustrates the current order of priorities: security first, even at the cost of direct damage to civilian services.

The numbers tell the story. The Transportation Ministry will absorb the heaviest blow, a cut of 423 million shekels. The Education Ministry will lose 354 million shekels, and the National Security Ministry will be cut by 224 million. Requests from the Welfare and Health ministries for exemptions were rejected outright. Everyone pays, without exception.

Beyond the immediate cut, the government is also expected to approve an additional across-the-board reduction of 0.5% from the 2027 budget onward, totaling approximately 776 million shekels. That money is earmarked for infrastructure and prison guards for the trials of Nukhba terrorists, a move intended to enable the prosecution of those who carried out the October 7 massacre.

The decision comes against the backdrop of heavy pressure from the defense establishment, which argues that the procurement cannot be delayed. At the same time, it raises difficult questions: Is an across-the-board cut of this scale, on the eve of elections and at a time when social services are already under strain, the right approach? Could alternative sources not have been found, for instance, in coalition funds that have not yet been fully distributed, before cutting education, transportation and welfare?

Officials in the affected ministries are expressing serious concern. A cut of hundreds of millions in the Education Ministry could impact programs, classrooms and support for students. In Transportation, possible damage to infrastructure development and services. In the National Security Ministry, a certain paradox: cutting a ministry meant to strengthen internal security in order to fund external security. The rejection of exemptions for Welfare and Health deepens the sense that the weaker sectors and basic services are the first to pay the price.

Smotrich in the Knesset (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

On the other hand, supporters of the move emphasize the complex security reality in which Israel finds itself. Urgent procurement, they argue, is not a luxury --- it is a necessity. Preparation for the Nukhba trials is also seen as part of bringing justice and sending a message to terrorists and to the world. The across-the-board cut, they claim, is the most efficient and rapid way to mobilize the required resources without reopening the entire budget.

The decision once again highlights the ongoing tension between security needs and civilian services. It raises questions about transparencym some of the procurement is classified, about long-term priorities, and about the manner in which cuts are decided: ostensibly equitable, but with unequal effects on different ministries and on citizens.

Last month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced preparations for an additional fuel price subsidy, after prices rose again following the global energy crisis. The previous reduction cost the state treasury approximately 300 million shekels per month. Meanwhile, in May the High Court froze budgets for chareidi institutions that do not teach mathematics and English, in the amount of 98 million shekels.

In the coming days it will become clear how much the cut will be felt on the ground: whether transportation projects will be delayed, whether education programs will be damaged, and whether the welfare and health systems will manage to absorb the reduction without harming services. For now, the message from the government is clear: when urgent security funding is needed—everyone pays.