The office of Prime Minister Netanyahu says that the cabinet agreed to set up the force and that a committee will decide what its powers will be.

Israel's cabinet has voted to cut the budgets of many ministries in order to pay for a controversial "national guard" led by the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Netanyahu's office said on Sunday that the cabinet approved the creation of the force, but that a committee made up of Israel's existing security agencies would decide the guard's powers and whether it would report to the police or directly to Ben-Gvir, as he wants. The committee has 90 days to come up with its ideas.

Ben-office Gvir's said in a statement that the guard would work under his ministry and deal with "emergency situations, nationalist crime, terror, and strengthening sovereignty."

Several ministers were against the project at first, but Netanyahu persuaded them to change their minds on Sunday. The cost of the project is estimated to be around $276 million.

In a report from West Jerusalem, Bernard Smith of Al Jazeera said that the guard will be paid for by taking 1-1.5 percent of the budgets of all the other ministries.

Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, criticized the cuts to the budgets for health care, education, and security that were made to pay for what he called Ben-"private Gvir's army."

"The government's priorities are stupid and disgusting. "The only thing it does is run over democracy and promote the wildest dreams of people who don't know what's real," Lapid said on Twitter.

Ben-plan Gvir's is for the unit to work with the police and the military to deal with "civil unrest" all over the country.

Critics say that Ben-Gvir could use the force of around 2,000 troops against anti-government protesters or the Palestinian and Arab population.

Former Tel Aviv police district commander David Tzur told Al Jazeera that there is no need for a separate force.

"We can't accept that the police commissioner won't be in charge of all law enforcement. It's strange that the government would decide to make another police force. If it were a private militia or ran alongside the current police, it would be a disaster.

Smith said that it will still be a few months before a national guard is made.

"The attorney general told the cabinet that she's not sure this new national guard is legal. She said that right now, the current draft can't move forward because of a legal problem. "It also has to get past parliamentary hurdles," Smith said.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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