Israeli legislators pass budget in a move that shores up Netanyahu's government

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s parliament on Tuesday passed a state budget, a move that shores up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition even as the embattled leader faces mounting public pressure over the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis.

The budget vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu’s coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties that had demanded and largely received hefty allocations for their constituents in exchange for supporting the funding package.

Failure to pass a budget by March 31 would have triggered early elections, potentially threatening Netanyahu's nearly unbroken 15-year rule.

Critics say the budget lacks much needed wartime funding for secular education, health and welfare. They accuse Netanyahu of channeling funding to his political allies to ensure his survival rather than thinking of the country’s best interests.

“The greatest theft in the country’s history officially begins,” opposition leader Yair Lapid said Monday, ahead of an hours-long, marathon debate in parliament on the budget. He said the middle class, including many reservists who have been fighting in Gaza, was being trampled for the sake of the coalition’s survival.

Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a key Netanyahu ally, said the budget had “everything needed to win on the front and at home.”

With its passing, Netanyahu's government is more likely to survive to the end of its term in October 2026, a rarity in Israel's fractious politics. It’s a political win for Netanyahu, who faces mass protests over his decision to resume the war in Gaza while hostages are still held by Hamas, and over his government’s recent moves to fire top legal and security chiefs.

In theory, Netanyahu now has more freedom to negotiate a lasting ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. His allies, who want to continue the war, have little incentive to trigger new elections while their polling numbers are down, said Gayil Talshir, a political scientist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

But she expects Netanyahu to stick with his coalition partners and further their ultranationalist agenda to galvanize the right ahead of any future vote.

“Netanyahu is always thinking about the next elections,” Talshir said. “His goal is to make sure the extreme right will be in his government now and in the future.”

Netanyahu, who is on trial for alleged corruption, faces mass protests in Israel over his return to war, with 59 captives, 24 of whom are said to be alive, still in Gaza.

Demonstrators are also angry over Netanyahu’s firing of the head of the internal Shin Bet security agency and his government’s push to fire the attorney general. Both moves are seen by opponents as part of the government’s attempt to undermine state institutions and as part of Netanyahu’s crusade against a “deep state” that he says is out to get him.

Ahead of the budget vote, anti-government protests erupted outside the Knesset and police scuffled with demonstrators who blocked the entrances to the parliament.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Police officers remove people as they block a road for the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest after the Israeli cabinet passed a no-confidence vote against the country's attorney general, taking a first step toward her dismissal, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli servicemen remove people as they block a road for the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest after the Israeli cabinet passed a no-confidence vote against the country's attorney general, taking a first step toward her dismissal, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police officers disperse demonstrators as they block a road leading to the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest ahead of a key vote on the state budget in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli police officers disperse demonstrators as they block a road leading to the Israeli parliament during an anti-government protest ahead of a key vote on the state budget in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

In this image made from a video released by the Israeli Government Press Office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement Tuesday, March 18, 2025, in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Israeli Government Press Office via AP)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)