Tag Archives: Israel

Who’s who in Israel’s new patchwork coalition government

By Ari Rabinovitch

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s new government is a hodgepodge of political parties that had little in common other than a desire to unseat veteran right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The coalition, sworn in on Sunday, spans the far left to far right and includes for the first time a small Islamist faction representing Israel’s Arab minority.

It is expected to focus mostly on economic and social issues rather than risk exposing internal rifts by trying to address major diplomatic matters such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Here are the people who are leading the new government:

NAFTALI BENNETT – PRIME MINISTER

Bennett leads the ultranationalist Yamina (Rightwards) party that champions Jewish settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. He made a fortune in Israeli high-tech before entering politics in 2013. Bennett, 49, served in previous Netanyahu-led governments, most recently as defense minister.

Now he says he joined with opponents to save the country from political turmoil that could otherwise have led to a fifth election in just over two years. A plan he has floated to annex much of the West Bank seems unfeasible, given his new partners. He opposes the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

Under the coalition deal, Bennett will serve as prime minister for two years whereupon he is to be replaced by Yair Lapid. He is Israel’s first leader to wear a kippah, a skullcap worn by Orthodox Jews.

YAIR LAPID – FOREIGN MINISTER

Lapid heads the centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party and was the architect behind the new government. His party is the biggest in the coalition but he agreed to share power with Bennett to secure a parliamentary majority.

Lapid, 57, whose late father was a justice minister in a previous governing coalition, quit his job as a TV anchor in 2012 and formed his own party, running on a promise to ease financial pressures on the middle-class.

He also seeks to end many of the state-funded privileges enjoyed by ultra-Orthodox Jews, a long-running source of grievance to many secular Israelis.

Lapid initially served as finance minister before moving to the opposition, which he led until Sunday. He will serve as foreign minister for two years and then take over as prime minister until the end of the government. If it lasts that long.

BENNY GANTZ – DEFENCE MINISTER

Just two years ago Gantz, a former armed forces chief of staff heading the centrist Blue and White party, was the opposition’s best hope to unseat Netanyahu.

But he agreed to join Netanyahu in a “unity” government, a decision that angered many of his supporters. Gantz, 62, is in the new coalition, remaining as defense minister.

AVIGDOR LIEBERMAN – FINANCE MINISTER

A far-right immigrant from Moldova who lives in an Israeli settlement in the West Bank, Lieberman, 63, has been a political wildcard over the past decade. He has joined Netanyahu governments, including as defense minister, but also quit.

As finance minister he will have to rein in a budget deficit that ballooned during the coronavirus crisis.

He has also said he will try to change the status quo between the government and Israel’s politically powerful ultra-Orthodox minority, which was a mainstay of Netanyahu’s outgoing government.

The ultra-Orthodox community has low participation rates in the workforce and relies heavily on government handouts while focusing on religious studies. Lieberman has said he will work to integrate them more into the economy.

GIDEON SAAR – JUSTICE MINISTER

Saar was Netanyahu’s main rival within Likud, but Netanyahu did his best to keep him out of the spotlight and away from the highest-level portfolios. Frustrated, Saar launched an ultimately failed leadership bid then spun off his own party.

As head of the New Hope party, Saar, 54, will serve as justice minister, where he will oversee the legal system and become a member of the security cabinet.

MANSOUR ABBAS

Abbas’s small United Arab List is the first party in an Israeli government to be drawn from Israel’s 21% Arab minority – Palestinian by culture and heritage, but Israeli by citizenship.

He split with other Arab politicians who prefer to remain outside government and cast aside differences with Bennett and other right-wingers to tip the scales against Netanyahu.

Abbas, 47, is expected to serve as a deputy minister in the prime minister’s office. He aims to negotiate a big increase in government spending in Arab towns and villages.

But his presence is a potentially destabilizing factor. He has been criticized by Palestinians for agreeing to support an Israeli government while Israel continues to occupy territories it captured in a 1967 war and which Palestinians seek a state. Addressing these tensions, Abbas told the Italian daily La Repubblica on Friday: “There will be difficult decisions to be made, including security decisions. We have to juggle our identity as Palestinian Arabs and citizens of the State of Israel, between civil and nationalistic aspects.”

(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; additional reporting by Giulia Segreti in Rome; editing by Stephen Farrell and Mark Heinrich)

Israel says Gaza tower that housed AP doubled as Hamas electronic warfare site

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s military said on Tuesday that a tower block in Gaza housing the U.S.-based Associated Press which was destroyed in an Israeli air strike was also used by the enclave’s Islamist rulers Hamas as an electronic warfare site.

Israel’s destruction of the 12-storey tower, which also housed Qatar-based media group Al Jazeera, during last month’s fighting with Hamas and other militants drew international condemnation and calls by Israel’s main ally the United States to protect journalists.

The al-Jalaa building in Gaza City had been evacuated after its owner received advanced warning of the May 15 strike. But the AP says it has received no evidence of a Hamas presence that posed a threat, and has called for an independent investigation.

AP executives met Israel’s ambassador to Washington and the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, on Monday to discuss the building’s destruction.

“Israeli authorities maintain that the building housing our bureau was destroyed because of a Hamas presence that posed an urgent threat. We have yet to receive evidence to support these claims,” the AP said in a statement.

“AP continues to call for the full release of any evidence the Israelis have so that the facts are public.”

In a statement, Erdan reiterated an Israeli claim that the building housed Hamas military intelligence, saying its personnel there were “developing an electronic jamming system to be used against the Iron Dome defense system”.

Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors shot down most of the more than 4,300 rockets fire from Gaza during the 11-day conflict, during which Israeli air strikes and Gaza rocket fire left more than 250 Palestinians and 13 in Israel dead.

The Israeli military said the purpose of the strike “was to curtail these enemy capabilities, including destroying special equipment, and preventing their use during the operation…The strike was designed to collapse the building in order to ensure the destruction of the special means.”

Erdan said Israel did all it could to avoid civilian harm.

“AP is one of the most important news agencies in the world and Israel doesn’t think that AP employees were aware it was being cynically used in this way by Hamas for a secret unit,” he said.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub, Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington, Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Israeli police bar right-wing march through Jerusalem’s Old City

By Maayan Lubell

JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli far right groups scrapped a planned march through Jerusalem’s Old City after police refused to authorize it amid fears it would rekindle strife that led to 11 days of intense fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants last month.

Several groups had planned a flag-waving procession through the walled Old City’s Damascus Gate and into its Muslim quarter this coming Thursday, drawing warnings from Gaza’s ruling Hamas movement of fresh hostilities should it go ahead.

The original march on May 10 was re-routed at the last minute as tensions around Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where Palestinian families face eviction, led Hamas to fire rockets towards the holy city.

Israel responded with air strikes, and the most serious cross-border fighting with Hamas in years raged for 11 days before a fragile ceasefire was achieved. Arab-Jewish violence also erupted in several Israeli cities.

Police said on Monday the permit was denied for Thursday’s march to proceed on the date and along the route planned by the organizers, and that an alternative procession would be considered if submitted.

Far-right lawmaker Itamar Ben Gvir said he would nonetheless march along the full route, accusing police of “capitulating to terrorism.”

A Hamas spokesman in Gaza said the police decision stemmed from Israel’s recognition of “the danger of crossing … red lines” set by the group over Israeli activity at sensitive sites in Jerusalem, and “consequences it may bring on the ground”.

It was not immediately clear if police made the move in consultation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, some of whose right-wing members have voiced support for the march as a show of Israel’s claim to sovereignty over East Jerusalem, disputed by Palestinians.

Israel’s Public Security Minister Amir Ohana, a member of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, said on Twitter that the police ban should be reviewed by the government, floating the possibility that it could still be overturned.

Israel annexed East Jerusalem, in a move that has not won international recognition, after capturing the area in the 1967 Middle East war. It considers all of Jerusalem its capital.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a state they seek to establish in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

Tensions are likely to remain high in Jerusalem even if the march does not go ahead. Protests have flared in Sheikh Jarrah, where Palestinian families face possible eviction after an Israeli court accepted Jewish settler land claims.

Israeli Attorney-General Avichai Mandelblit informed the Supreme Court that he would not intervene in the legal proceedings, paving the way for the court to issue a ruling widely expected to be in favor of the settlers.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem and Nidal al-Mughrabi in GazaEditing by Jeffrey Heller, Mark Heinrich, Peter Graff)

Arab Islamist helps clinch Israel’s new anti-Netanyahu government

By Rami Ayyub

RAHAT, Israel (Reuters) – It was a photo opportunity for the history books: An Islamist politician from Israel’s Arab minority grinning alongside a far-right Jewish leader and his allies, moments after endorsing him as prime minister and handing him a governing majority.

Common cause against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu helped bring Mansour Abbas into the political fold late on Wednesday, his tiny Islamist faction securing a paper-thin majority for Jewish parties hoping to unseat Israel’s longest serving premier.

The United Arab List would be the first party drawn from the country’s 21% Arab minority – Palestinian by heritage, Israeli by citizenship – to join an Israeli government, whose parliamentary approval is still pending.

Abbas, 47, has cast aside differences with prime minister-hopeful Naftali Bennett, a former leader of a major Jewish settlement organization and an advocate of annexing most of the the occupied West Bank – land Palestinians seek for a state.

A dentist by profession, Abbas says he hopes to improve conditions for Arab citizens, who complain of discrimination and government neglect.

“We decided to join the government in order to change the balance of political forces in the country,” he said in a message to supporters after signing a coalition agreement with Bennett and opposition leader Yair Lapid.

Abbas’s party said that the agreement includes the allocation of more than 53 billion shekels ($16 billion) to improve infrastructure and combat violent crime in Arab towns.

The agreement also includes provisions freezing demolition of homes built without permits in Arab villages and granting official status to Bedouin towns in the Negev desert, a stronghold for Islamist support, the party said.

“I say here clearly and frankly: when the very establishment of this government is based on our support…we will be able to influence it and accomplish great things for our Arab society,” Abbas said.

FRAGILE COALITION

Abbas is from the mixed Druze, Muslim and Christian village of Maghar, near the Sea of Galilee. His party is the political wing of the southern branch of Israel’s Islamic Movement, which was established in 1971 and traces its origins to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Before agreeing to a coalition deal, Abbas sought and received approval from the Islamic Movement’s advisory Shura Council, a religious body, which has guided the party’s past votes in parliament on LGBT rights and other issues.

Abbas’s party split from Israel’s main Arab coalition, the Joint List, before a March 23 election after advocating, unsuccessfully, that they work with Netanyahu and other right-wing factions to improve living conditions for Arabs.

Many Arabs criticize Abbas’s approach, asking how he could justify belonging to a government that imposes a military occupation over their Palestinian brethren in the West Bank and leads a blockade of Hamas-ruled Gaza.

“He should be commended for trying something new, but if there’s another war with Gaza, and he’s in government, there will be pressure on him to abandon ship,” said Moussa al-Zayadna in the Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel.

Abbas’s Islamist party has “dramatically changed its historical political behavior” by joining with Bennett and other right-wing leaders, Joint List member Sami Abou Shehadeh said, calling it “a very big crime”.

“Bennett was the head of the Yesha Council (a settler umbrella group). We’re talking about dangerous people, and supporting them means that Mansour Abbas has chosen to stand with the extreme settler right against the interests of our people.”

Abbas temporarily halted coalition negotiations during an 11-day conflict between Israel and Gaza militants last month that also saw violent incidents between Jews and Arabs within Israel.

But the decision to join a coalition was a strategic, long-term view, said Arik Rudnitzky of the Israel Democracy Institute.

“He would not withdraw such a strategic option just because of violent events,” Rudnitzky said.

($1 = 3.2 shekels)

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Angus MacSwan)

Out, but not down, Netanyahu could be tough opposition leader

By Jeffrey Heller

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Long the familiar face of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu is headed to the political sidelines after serving as prime minister for more than a decade.

But even as he battles in court against corruption charges that he denies, Netanyahu, as opposition leader, will be poised to pounce on a new governing coalition of right-wing, centrist and Arab parties with little in common other than a desire to unseat him.

In a likely taste of things to come, a stern-looking Netanyahu, 71, has decried the creation of a “dangerous, left-wing government.”

“Fraud of the century,” he declared indignantly after fellow right-winger Naftali Bennett turned against him on Sunday and opted to align with centrist opposition chief Yair Lapid despite a public promise that he would not do so.

Under a power-sharing deal that follows a March 23 election – Israel’s fourth in two years – Bennett, a former defense minister and a high-tech millionaire, will become prime minister.

He will later turn over the post to Lapid, who once served as finance minister in a Netanyahu-led government.

The diverse composition of the Lapid-Bennett alliance could make it particularly unstable in a country so riven by political divisions that “do-over” elections have become the norm.

That means that no one in Israel is ruling out a Netanyahu political comeback.

Already, the tone of his remarks has echoes of his closest international ally, former U.S. President Donald Trump, himself now unseated but still commanding loyalty from supporters.

For Netanyahu’s grassroots backers, dubbed “Bibists”, he remains a leader tough on security and a bulwark against pressure, even from Trump’s successor President Joe Biden, for any bold steps that could lead to a Palestinian state.

From the opposition benches, Netanyahu is likely to press on with a message that the new coalition will be hobbled by its left-wing members if military steps are needed against Israel’s enemies.

Claiming the spotlight even as Lapid was deep in negotiations on a change in government, a combative Netanyahu seemed to pick a fight with Biden on Tuesday over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program, again hinting at the possibility of Israeli attack.

“If we have to choose, I hope it doesn’t happen, between friction with our great friend the United States and eliminating the existential threat – eliminating the existential threat wins,” Netanyahu said in a speech.

BORROWED TIME

It has been a rocky few years for Netanyahu, whose stewardship of Israel’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout was not enough to halt his political decline.

A sense that he was living on borrowed time after 12 consecutive years in office was compounded by criminal charges over alleged favors to media tycoons and illegal receipt of expensive cigars and champagne.

Netanyahu has denied all wrongdoing and says, without offering any evidence, that he is a victim of a deep state conspiracy against him.

Popularly known by his childhood nickname, Bibi, Netanyahu is the son of a historian and attended high school and college in the United States, where his father taught.

Never lost for a soundbite, his booming baritone has resounded on the world stage since serving as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations from 1984 to 1988.

Entering politics in Israel as a Likud legislator, he became party leader in 1993 and exerted hegemony for decades over Israeli politics.

The formation of the new government marked a rare defeat for Netanyahu: the last time he and his wife Sara had to pack their bags and move out of the prime minister’s residence was before the turn of the millennium.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)

UN Gaza relief chief called in by bosses after comments over Israeli air strikes

By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) – The Gaza director of the U.N. agency that deals with Palestinian refugees has been called in for consultation with his bosses in Jerusalem after angering Palestinians with comments they said favored Israel during last month’s fighting.

Protests have erupted in the territory over the comments by UNRWA Gaza chief Matthias Schmale in an interview with Israel’s N12 television on May 22, in which he said he did not dispute Israel’s assertion that its air strikes were “precise.”

Eleven days of conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted on May 10. More than 250 Palestinians were killed in hundreds of Israeli air strikes in Gaza. More than 4,000 rockets, many intercepted, fired by Gaza militants killed 13 people in Israel.

Hamas, the Islamist militant group that rules the enclave has ridiculed him as “a spokesman for the Israeli military,” Schmale, based in Gaza, has apologized for his remarks in which he was commenting on the ferocity of the air strikes and said: “… precision was there but there was unacceptable and unbearable loss of life on the civilian side.”

Sami Mshasha, UNRWA’s spokesman in Jerusalem, said on Wednesday Schmale and his deputy had been “called in for consultation and discussion at the Jerusalem headquarters over the latest developments in Gaza.”

Another official told Reuters that Deputy Commissioner-General Leni Stenseth would temporarily lead the Gaza team.

UNRWA provides education, health and relief services to around 5.7 million Palestinian registered refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

“In the coming few weeks, UNRWA will review the emergency response mechanism in Gaza to determine lessons and conclusions to improve UNRWA’s response and performance during times of crisis and emergency,” Mshasha said in a statement.

In a statement on May 25, Schmale said in apology: “There is no justification whatsoever for killing civilians.” He said: “Military precision and sophistication are never a justification for war.”

Israel’s foreign ministry has said its forces acted “in accordance with international law, in defending our citizens from Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire.”

(Writing by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Stephen Farrell, Maayan Lubell and Alison Williams)

Iran’s biggest navy ship sinks after fire in Gulf of Oman

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran’s largest navy ship the Kharg sank on Wednesday after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman, but the crew were safely rescued, Iranian media reported.

No further explanation was given for the latest incident in a region of sensitive waterways, where there have been accusations of attacks on ships owned by arch-enemies Iran and Israel.

State TV said the fire on Iran’s highest-tonnage naval vessel started around 2:25 a.m. on Wednesday (21:55 GMT) near the Iranian port of Jask, where it was on a training mission.

The Gulf of Oman connects to the Strait of Hormuz where about a fifth of the world’s oil passes.

Rescue operations for the Kharg went on for hours, the statement on state TV said, with all the crew disembarking.

“All efforts to save the vessel were unsuccessful and it sank,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

In April, Iran said one of its vessels, the Saviz, had been targeted in the Red Sea, after media reports the ship had been attacked with limpet mines.

That came after Israel and Iran had blamed each other for a series of reported attacks on cargo ships since late February.

Iran has refused to recognize Israel since its Islamic Revolution in 1979 that toppled the U.S.-backed Shah. Israel sees Iran’s nuclear program as a threat to its existence.

The shipping incidents have occurred since U.S. President Joe Biden took office in January, pledging to rejoin Iran’s 2015 nuclear containment deal with six world powers – abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in a move welcomed by Israel – if Tehran returns to full compliance with the accord.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)

U.S. senator expects U.S. to send more funds for Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – A senior U.S. senator said on Tuesday he expected Washington would quickly authorize as much as $1 billion for Israel to replenish its Iron Dome missile defense system after clashes in May with Hamas.

“There will be a $1 billion request coming to the Pentagon this week from the (Israeli) defense minister to replenish the Iron Dome and a few other things, to upgrade the system,” Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters in Jerusalem.

A senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, Graham met with both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz during a trip to Israel. The committee oversees spending including foreign military aid.

Graham said Iron Dome had saved thousands of lives during last month’s rocket attacks, and predicted Israel’s request would find favor with both President Joe Biden and Congress, which is narrowly controlled by Biden’s Democrats.

“There’s been a big dustup over the last engagement between Hamas and the State of Israel in the United States, but I’m here to tell you that there’s a wide and deep support for Israel among the Democratic Party,” Graham said.

Biden has said he would replenish Iron Dome, which helped Israel fend off most of the more than 4300 rockets fired from Gaza during the conflict.

Israel and Hamas began a ceasefire on May 21 after 11 days of the fiercest Israeli-Palestinian hostilities in years, with nearly 250 people dead, all but 13 of them Palestinians.

Israel’s fierce response drew criticism from some Democrats, but Israel generally enjoys strong support in Washington from both parties. Congress routinely approves large sums on military funding for a country seen as a solid U.S. partner in an unstable region.

Israel’s Defense Ministry said Gantz would meet with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday in Washington for a discussion on issues including Iran and military aid.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem; Writing by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Editing by Howard Goller)

First foreign tourists in more than a year land in Israel

By Steven Scheer

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The first group of foreign tourists in more than a year touched down in Israel on Thursday after the government began opening its borders following a steep drop in COVID-19 infections.

Small groups of vaccinated foreign tourists – up to 30 people – have been allowed to enter as of last Sunday and the Tourism Ministry expects 20 such groups to come from countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany, under a pilot program until June 15.

The ministry then hopes to expand the number of groups and, in July, allow individual tourists.

Shortly after 4 pm (1300 GMT), United Airlines flight 90 from Newark, New Jersey landed with 12 Christian pilgrims, men and women of varying ages, studying theology at the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. They were welcomed by Tourism Minister Orit Farkash-Hakohen, who said: “You are the first of what I am sure will be many tourists returning to the Holy Land.”

Led by Pastor Tom Zelt of the Prince of Peace Church, the group plans to visit Jerusalem, Nazareth, national parks and Christian sites, the Tourism Ministry said.

“Israel is … healthy and vaccinated. Everything is now safely open,” Farkash-Hakohen told the group.

The country had closed its borders to foreigners at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020. A rapid vaccine roll-out that has vaccinated most adults has brought the number of active COVID cases to just 428 nationwide.

This has paved the way for Israel to allow vaccinated foreigners to enter the country and revive its tourism sector, although officials remain cautious over potential new variants.

Tourists are required to show negative PCR tests before flying and to take another test at Ben Gurion Airport after landing in Tel Aviv.

Groups will also need to take serological tests at their hotel to prove they have COVID-19 antibodies. They will need to quarantine until results come back, usually in a few hours.

Tourism in 2019 hit a record high of 4.55 million visitors, contributing 23 billion shekels ($7.1 billion) to Israel’s economy, mainly via small and mid-sized businesses.

(Reporting by Steven Scheer. Editing by Jane Merriman)

What to watch for in Biden’s budget: Israel, student loans, growing deficits

By Andrea Shalal and Trevor Hunnicutt

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will unveil his first full budget on Friday, setting the stage for a pitched battle with Republicans opposed to his plans to spend trillions on infrastructure, childcare and other public works.

The Democratic president in April provided a partial wish list for about $1.5 trillion in government spending for the fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1, just a sliver of the total budget.

Friday will see more details, from foreign aid to immigration and policing, and could include jumps in funding for Medicaid and other social programs that consume most federal government spending.

Including his already announced hopes to pass new bills worth over $4 trillion over ten years as well as the $1.9 trillion in deficit-fueled stimulus already passed, Biden’s budget is expected to reflect soaring spending and a larger debt in an attempt to remake the economy.

NO SURPRISE INITIATIVES

Do not expect any previously undisclosed major policy initiatives, said Rob Friedlander, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget.

Instead, look for details on Biden’s $4 trillion plans to bring more women back into the workforce, fund home care for the aging and disabled, expand broadband coverage to underserved and rural areas and combat climate change, by raising taxes on companies and the wealthy.

“The president’s budget will … include the American Jobs Plan, the American Families Plan, and the president’s proposals to reinvest in research, education, clean energy, public health, and other critical priorities,” Friedlander said.

Congress, where Democrats have a narrow majority, must pass any budget. Biden hopes to secure Republican support for some of that investment – but may rely on a congressional procedure known as reconciliation to pass it without Republican backing.

Biden will need to corral the often-warring progressive and moderate wings of his own Democratic Party to do so.

PROGRESSIVE PROMISES?

Biden made sweeping campaign promises to progressive voters about what he would get done during his presidency, from cutting student loan debt to adding a public option to the Obamacare health insurance law.

They may be disappointed.

“Every entity may not be reflected in this budget,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said last week, when asked about pledges on drug pricing and health insurance.

PENTAGON PRIORITIES

Biden’s initial proposal to keep Pentagon spending roughly flat in inflation-adjusted terms angered liberals who want to cut the funding and hawks who want it raised.

Friday’s budget may show how sharply Biden plans to shift focus away from the Middle East, as well as the cost impact of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and the level of funding for emerging threats like China.

It will also show how much Biden wants the Pentagon to invest in fighting cyber crime, climate change and environmental mediation.

The budget will ask for 85 fifth-generation F-35 jets made by Lockheed Martin Co. Recently, U.S. governors have written to Biden urging him to support the program and the jobs it creates.

AFTER GAZA

Some progressive lawmakers, such as Senator Bernie Sanders, want Biden to cut military aid to Israel following its air strikes in Gaza that killed dozens of civilians in response to rocket fire from Hamas militants.

But White House aides said they were happy with the program and expect to keep funding consistent.

Egypt, which was a key intermediary for U.S. diplomacy during 11 days of fighting, is also expected to remain a major recipient of U.S. aid despite concerns over Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s crackdown on political dissent.

DEBT, ECONOMIC GROWTH

The budget is likely to include detailed economic growth assumptions and deficit projections that will be heavily scrutinized by economists, political opponents and investors.

Biden argues his investment plans would expand the economy by creating jobs, funding research and freeing up more workers.

The president’s proposal to pay for home care for the elderly and disabled would boost funding for the healthcare program Medicaid, a target of deficit hawks, by $400 billion over a decade.

CLIMATE CHANGE

Biden’s budget will put meat on the bones of the U.S. pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% below 2005 levels over the next decade as its new Paris agreement target, after his “skinny budget” proposed $14 billion to fight climate change in fiscal 2022.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt, Valerie Volcovici and Mike Stone; Editing by Heather Timmons and Peter Cooney)