State Defense wants NIS 5 billion more
Defense ministry demands NIS 3 billion (USD 716 million) in addition to the NIS 1.9 billion (USD 454 million) already approved for 2007 budget at joint Knesset Committee for the Defense Budget. Defense Committee chairman MK Hanegbi: 'We will not pass the budget until we feel that a proper answer can be provided against every threat'
The Defense establishment is demanding a NIS 5 billion (USD 2 billion) increase deviation for the 2007 state budget, double the amount cited by Defense Minister Amir Peretz last week at a Finance Committee meeting.
The Joint Committee for the Defense Budget, a fusion of elements from the Finance Committee and the Committee for Foreign Affairs and Defense, sat down on Thursday to discuss next year's budget in a session attended by Defense Minister Amir Peretz, Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and other senior members of the security establishment.
Joint Committee head MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima) – who also heads the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee – said during the meeting that the proposed budget does not give a satisfactory response to the threats endangering national security and does not allow the IDF to properly train itself to face these threats. Therefore it remains unclear if the defense budget for 2007 will be authorized by the committee at the moment.
Peretz spoke earlier this week of an NIS 1.8 billion (USD 430 million) addition to the regular defense budget, but security forces asked for an additional NIS 3 billion (USD 716.5 million) for 2007 alone. This after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert boosted the addition to NIS 1.9 billion (USD 454 million).
Olmert's decision puts the defense budget at NIS 35 billion (USD 8 billion), a figure which includes the funds allocated for the expenses of special development projects. Following the decision the Finance Ministry will have to cut back some NIS 600 million (USD 143 million) from the 2007 budget proposal prior to its Knesset début before the end of December. The addition will be paid in advance until the government authorizes the entire budget, in accordance with the Brodat Committee's recommendations. The new budget does not include the NIS 8 billion (USD 2 billion) given to the army immediately after the end of the last war in Lebanon.
Hanegbi: Army needs more training
Hanegbi said that the threat from Iran, Syria and the Hizbullah are only increasing: "We need more training, more equipment and more technological developments like defensive systems against Qassam rockets which haven't been developed yet."
Hanegbi also spoke of the need to replenish the war reserves stores, train commanders and implement all the lessons learned for the last war in Lebanon.
"We will demand that the Finance Ministry to consolidate the appropriate budget increase and we will not authorize this budget until we feel that a proper answer can be provided against every threat," said Hanegbi during the meeting, which still continues in Jerusalem.
