"I don't know what is happening with the defense budget," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz today during a committee discussion on the defense budget. A confrontation broke out between the two of them during which Netanyahu said that he was not familiar with the details of the defense budget, and neither was Minister of Defense Ehud Barak.
"Mr. Prime Minister, is there an agreement between yourself and the Minister of Finance to give the defense budget supplements in 2012?" Mofaz asked Netanyahu. Netanyahu responded, "No one knows exactly."
At this stage, Mofaz asked Netanyahu, "What, you don't know? The prime minister does not know what is happening with the defense budget?" Netanyahu answered, "I don't know."
Mofaz pressed the attack on Netanyahu, "You don't know how much the army is spending?" and Netanyahu responded, "And the defense minister doesn't know either."
Mofaz slammed Netanyahu's answer saying, "You, Mr. Prime Minister, are not in control of the defense budget. In 2011, you had a huge problem with transparency. You approved supplements above and beyond what the Knesset had approved. I say to you, Mr. Prime Minister, you have a huge issue of control here. You, the minister of finance, and the minister of defense are not in control of the defense budget. You do not know what is going on there…you had understandings and agreements way beyond what is acceptable. The IDF does not have a problem with transparency, you have a problem of control."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 16, 2012
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