An estimated NIS 3 billion ($810 million) are set to be cut from his budget but the IDF chief of staff isn't rushing to wave the white flag.
A day after the cabinet approved the Trajtenberg report conclusions that include transferring NIS 3 billion away from the defense budget, Lieutenant General Benny Gantz has made it clear he intends to fight the planned budget cuts .
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"I will not allow the defenders of the nation to come under attack," he said on Monday at a ceremony in honor of departing Navy Commander Vice Admiral Eliezer (Chiney) Marom and incoming commander Vice Admiral Ram Rotberg.
At the ceremony Gantz highlighted the Navy's strategic importance and thanked Vice Admiral Marom for his service: "You pushed the Corps wherever it was needed and insisted to go the farthest and the deepest."
Chief of staff with ingoing, outgoing commanders (Photo: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv )
The chief of staff mentioned the arms ships captured by the Navy in recent years including the Victoria and Frankop under Marom's command and the Karine A while Marom was a leading naval commander.
According to Gantz, faced with the crises in surrounding countries and in Israel itself "the IDF must remain steadfast and trained in order for it to be at its peak readiness to defend the State and its citizens at any given moment."
In the backdrop of the battle with the Finance Ministry over the defense budget he noted: "I will not allow the defenders of the nation to come under attack. The ethics and fair play towards the nation's defenders is more precious and important that a fistful of shekels."