Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chastised the leadership of the Finance Ministry for failing to follow his instructions on the proposed state budget, sources close to Netanyahu say.
The prime minister also criticized some of his economic advisers for "falling asleep while on guard," one source said. The prime minister's reaction comes amid criticism of the proposed cuts in the 2009-10 budget proposal. Netanyahu has ordered the treasury to reevaluate the cuts, which are bound to hurt the poor most.
Last night Netanyahu met with the budget chief at the ministry, Ram Belinkov, and other top treasury officials. He ordered them to go over the budget again and remove all cuts that would harm the poor.
Sources at the Prime Minister's Bureau confirmed that Netanyahu had seen the budget before it was published and that he had authorized all the cuts proposed. His aides said Netanyahu had approved the cuts because he did not want to slow the progress of budget officials working under great time pressure.
"Netanyahu does not surrender to pressure," his office said in a statement. "This is the fifth or sixth budget that he is proposing, he knows the ritual of including elements in the budget in order to take them out later.
