"Nothing is closed and there is no agreement," a Defense Ministry source has told "Globes," following the outline agreement between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid on the 2015 budget, which allocates an extra NIS 6 billion to the defense budget. "It just won't happen that we'll agree to a NIS 6 billion supplement. We need more. Both sides understand that such a sum is not connected to any reality and certainly doesn't answer the major needs that screamed out during the last operation in Gaza."
Defense sources found it hard to hide their dissatisfaction with the agreement between the prime minister and finance minister. Those sources at Defense Ministry headquarters insist that an extra NIS 11 billion is needed on the regular 2015 budget not just NIS 6 billion. In 2014 the regular budget was NIS 51 billion with an extra NIS 3 billion added for various things throughout the year.
The Defense Ministry now wants an extra NIS 11 billion for the 2015 budget just to keep up with ongoing rises in costs and continue regular operations. That extra NIS 11 billion would lift the 2015 budget to NIS 62 billion in line, it argues, with the recommendations of the Brodet Committee in 2007.
But the NIS 5 billion shortfall between the NIS 6 billion agreed between Lapid and Netanyahu, and the NIS 11 billion demanded by the Defense Ministry is just the start. The defense Ministry also wants an extra NIS 8.5 billion for its multi-year development program. This sum would be outside the regular budget and is meant to allow the IDF to become stronger based on the lessons learned in Operation Protective Edge. This would bring the budget the Defense Ministry is demanding for 2015 up to more than NIS 70 billion.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 21, 2014
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