Despite the coalition crisis, for the Blue and White party, it appears it's business as usual.
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In an interview with Israel Hayom, Science and Technology Minister Orit Farkash-Hacohen discusses her plans for the 2023-2024 state budget, which the Finance Ministry hopes to pass in June.
According to Farkash-Hacohen, her party will demand reforms to provide free childcare for children from birth to age 3 in an effort to make it easier for working couples to contend with the rising cost of living, "Until we deal with the big challenge of the cost of housing."
If approved, the plan, which would cost the state billions of shekels, would be implemented in stages across five to six years.
Q: These are nice plans you're describing, but the question is will the current government survive?
"You're right. There is a coalition crisis, and that can't be shrugged off, and I very much hope that we can continue this work and pass a budget because the things I spoke about require a budget and a five-year economic plan to implement.
Yisrael Beytenu party head and Finance Minister Avigdor] "Lieberman plans to pass the budget in June despite the coalition crisis, and we are preparing for that. I am coordinating the budget issue in Blue and White, and we have already begun to talk about the important issues with party members. The issue that is important to me is education – for every child in Israel to have an equal opportunity, even if they are born in the periphery, and not as the statistics show today. Also the issues of the cost of living and free childcare for ages 0 to 3."
Q: Will the free education law for children from birth to age 4 enter the 2023-2024 budget?
"I am pushing in that direction. I think this is a very important step. It will help with thousands of shekels each month to young couples who are struggling with the cost of living, but it demands government stability. And it's not just up to us.
"Blue and White is committed to this government, and it did and sacrificed a lot for it to be established. We could have been in any government we wanted, but the fact that this government works is very important.
"There is still time until the end of the Knesset recess, and we will see how things develop, and in the meantime, we must remember that the opposition is not capable of establishing a government at the moment."
Q: Will Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz join forces with Opposition Leader and Likud party chief Benjamin Netanyahu?
"Absolutely not. I don't see it happening. I think a majority of the Israeli public doesn't want a fifth round of elections. It's bad for the public, for the state coffers, for security, and we just need to do everything to avoid it."
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