Israel’s government has officially approved the 2026 state budget following a brief cabinet meeting held Friday. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opened the session by stating that the budget would pass that same day and praised the ministers and the finance minister for what he described as a focused and constructive approach.
Netanyahu told the cabinet that the budget brings meaningful benefits to the country, including tax reductions, support for active-duty and reserve IDF soldiers, and accelerated development for northern and southern communities affected during the war. He stressed that the government is stable and has no intention of heading to early elections, declaring: “This government will serve out its full term.”
The Finance Ministry and Defense Ministry reached an agreement setting the defense budget at 112 billion shekels — approximately 30 billion shekels less than what the Defense Ministry originally demanded at the start of negotiations.
Finance Minister Betzalel Smotrich welcomed the compromise, saying the government is committing massive resources to strengthen the army while still ensuring that Israel’s economy remains on a path toward growth and relief for citizens.
Ministers also approved Smotrich’s dairy reform plan during the meeting. The prime minister and most cabinet members supported the reform, with Agriculture and Food Security Minister Avi Dichter casting the sole opposing vote. The proposal will now move to the Knesset for legislation.
Netanyahu noted that the budget includes several major initiatives: tax cuts — including reductions to income tax — decreased regulation, streamlined government systems, and significant investment in communities in the north and south that suffered during the conflict. He said the budget also expands assistance, grants, and benefits for IDF soldiers in both regular service and reserves, along with increased support for their families.
Shortly after the meeting ended, the Prime Minister’s Office released a confirmation statement announcing that the government had approved the 2026 budget.
{Matzav.com}
Derek Chauvin is again attempting to overturn his conviction, filing a new appeal that asks a Minnesota court to throw out the verdict in the death of George Floyd and allow him to be retried. The request, submitted last month in Hennepin County District Court, argues that significant legal and evidentiary problems undermined the fairness of his 2020 trial.
Central to the filing is Chauvin’s argument that the medical testimony used against him was fundamentally flawed. His attorneys assert that the four physicians who evaluated the medical examiner’s findings relied excessively on video footage that captured officers restraining Floyd — including the widely seen recording in which Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes as Floyd repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe and bystanders pleaded with officers to stop. According to the appeal, “This led to many errors throughout, as improperly qualified experts opined on events in the various videos in this case. This served to deprive Chauvin of his right to due process.”
Chauvin contends that he has now brought in outside medical experts from the Forensic Panel who are prepared to testify that the physicians used during the trial relied on methodology that “is not generally accepted in the scientific community,” as reported by Fox News.
The appeal also takes aim at testimony offered by Minneapolis police supervisors who said that the knee-to-neck restraint was outside department policy. Chauvin’s lawyers counter that dozens of officers dispute that claim. As Fox News summarized, “Chauvin also disputed testimony from three Minneapolis police supervisors, who swore the tactic of placing a knee on a suspect’s neck as a restraint was inconsistent with city police policy,” adding that the filing includes statements from “34 current and former Minneapolis police officers” asserting that the maneuver was part of their training.
This is not Chauvin’s first effort to revisit the outcome of his trial. A previous appeal seeking a new proceeding was rejected in 2023. He is currently serving both a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a separate 22½-year sentence for second-degree murder, housed at a low-security facility in Big Spring, Texas.
Prosecutors, in their closing arguments at trial, maintained that Chauvin betrayed the ethics and responsibility of his position during the incident, asserting that he chose “pride over policing” while restraining Floyd for those nine minutes.
{Matzav.com}