Will the government approve a cut in the budget to finance the agreement with the Teachers?

On Thursday, Prime Minister Yair Lapid will bring to the government's approval a horizontal cut in the state budget for 2023, in order to finance the salary agreement with the Teachers' Union - after it became clear that the agreement was illegal. The agreement was signed without finding a budgetary source to finance it, at a cost of NIS 4.5 billion per year.
Talks are taking place with Defense Minister Benny Gantz and other ministers with the aim of reaching agreements, but widespread opposition to the cuts is expected, including from ministers who previously expressed opposition, including Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz. It is estimated that the government ministers will be forced to make the cut to avoid strike threats from the teachers union.
The teachers' agreement was signed last week by Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, even though the legal echelon in the Ministry of Finance and senior officials of the Ministry of Justice admitted that the agreement was illegal, both because no budgetary source was found and due to election laws. Because of this, in an unusual and unprecedented manner, the person in charge of wages at the Ministry of Finance, Kobi Bar Natan, refused to sign the agreement. In recent days, Prime Minister Shalom Shlomo clarified to Lieberman that the agreement is not valid until a budgetary source is found.
Most of the teachers' agreement spending will begin in 2023. Therefore, the cut is about NIS 4.5 billion in the 2023 budget, which as of now, at least at the beginning of the year, will be continuous - that is, the 2022 budget will continue to be valid with certain changes in 2023 as well. Although surpluses of more than NIS 30 billion have accumulated in the treasury in the last 12 months, they cannot be spent because of the law that limits the government's spending, and the law cannot be changed as long as the government does not have a majority in the Knesset.
Lapid's office clarifies that "this is a conditional cut for next year that will be canceled when the state budget is transferred to 2023. There are surpluses that we will use in the next budget and we will make sure that the social service to the citizen is not harmed. On the contrary, the citizens will only benefit from it and the teachers will receive the money they deserve."