Netanyahu secures passage of controversial Israeli budget.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition government passed a two-year national budget, marking a rare moment of unity and stability for the fractious alliance of right-wing nationalist and religious parties. Netanyahu immediately suggested he could use the window of calm to bring back explosive proposals to gain power over Israel’s judiciary, which he suspended in March in the face of mass demonstrations against them. The move sparked months of strikes, mass demonstrations, and protests by military reservists. Critics slammed the last-minute deals as evidence that Netanyahu remains beholden to his most extreme partners.