Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls to lower taxes and increase government spending on Sunday, saying that his government was using tax money to safeguard Israel’s security as well as its economy.

“We need the taxes to buy more Iron Domes, to complete the fence’s construction, to pay for children’s free education, to pave roads and lay train tracks, to aid the elderly and needy,” the premier said.

On Saturday, as hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Netanyahu decided to raise the price of gasoline by only 5 agorot a liter, despite an expected 20 agorot increase.

The new prices that came into force at midnight on Saturday night mean a liter of 95-octane gas will now cost NIS 8 at full-service pumps and NIS 7.79 at self-service pumps.

The decision to moderate the rise in the price of gas will be achieved by cutting the excise tax on gasoline, and the budgetary shortfall will be covered by cutting spending and government jobs.

This is the second time in a month that Netanyahu has intervened to prevent gas prices from going over NIS 8 per liter. Like the last time, the announcement of Netanyahu’s intervention also came a few minutes before the central 8 P.M. news broadcast.

For more, go to Haaretz.com

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