The israeli middle class needs as its first priority a strong army. No army, no life, no country, no need for housing or social benefits. Dayan was worrying about the 10 million shekels it would have cost to call up the reserves before the Yom Kippur war. The cost for his stupidity and arrogance, 7 billion dollars, 2,800 dead soldiers.

Stupid Man

well needed BUT it should not have anything to do with the "army" 1. cutback on missions abroad - if u need them, fine- but they do not have to travel with their familes once a year to israel. (all on the expens of the MOD) 2.most of the missions abroad do nothing except attend cocktails and their children attend the most expence schools in their respective countries. 3. you can have one mission per continent and if this fellow is "smart" enough - he can deal with the entire continent. 4. do not have husband as military attache and his wife his "secretary". have seen too many cases like these and their expenses include planning bar mitzvahs and weddings abroad. you can check this all out from 1981 until.NOW. believe me, I am writing the TRUTH. The Min. of Def. refuses to deal with this and it is millions of $$$$$$$ each year. I have seen it with MY 2 EYES for years..............

Michael, Bill and any others panicking for nothing. Every Israeli whose served in the army knows that the permanent army (the cuts won't affect active servers) has for decades been "protected" employment, that there is lavish expenditure on officers on for non-military purposes, and that they retire, in their mid 40s (while the rest of us are faced with retirement closer to 70) with very fat packages indeed. Nobody wants to see defense compromised, but there is plenty of room for expenditure cutting and it's about time. It is top heavy, wasteful and it's time for efficiency over privilege. Sue - you're absolutely right. Several talkbacks on the Hebrew version of this article attest to the same thing.

What housing and what social benefits ? cant you see things are already too tough for young families.

Mr Lapid, you claim that reducing the cuts to the army will hurt the middle class. So why did you give 14 millions shekels to reinforce Jewish identity and reduced children stipends??? Is spending money in order to teach a five years old about the holocaust actually serves any educative purpose? I don't see in this a desire to help the middle class but rather just a way to seduce it with some kind of tricks

AND OLD FAMILIES! Believe me, it's not just 'young families' that can't make ends meet ...or find affordable housing!

The Israeli government does not care much about old families and this will not change much. No pensioners party in the knesset, so nobody to exert any pressure on them.

Have never agreed with this poster, but this time #6 is correct.

Without security their won't be a middle class..........., or any class! Israel is really blessed with this minister.

Have any of our great leaders and forward planners ever thought about cutting down army service to 2 years. This will save millions/billions. Not only that but the youth will get into the workforce much earlier in their lives whert they can start making a living and contribute towards the growth of the country. For those sceptics who think you cannot train a man in 2 years, you can. I have been there and done that. In any case, the soldiers who are in the 3rd year dont do anything in any case except count the number of days till exit.

finally treat your own soldiers with respect by feeding them properly and making sure they are given proper working equipment. The only ones who stand between you and certain death are the soldiers. Respect the IDF and they intern will respect the people and the nation. As it is the IDF is being run by a gang of overfed entitled boob heads. Its time for a house cleaning starting with Gantz. He is a failed COS.

Time to tighten belts for those whose snouts are in the trough. It is the common soldier who does the fighting Not the Officers!! Cut back on the perks for officers--exactly why do we need so many? We could do without Lapid as well...

And he just made another dumb statement about gays who serve army should be allow to get married - two things that have totally no connection!! Who care if the gays stay together or not. BUT DO NOT destroy our children's understanding of MARRIAGE which is between a man and a woman and foundation of FAMILY.

IDF, inadequate training before 2006 Lebanon campaign. I want to live, therefore i want a strong well trained army. Cost of housing can only be solved by massive release by the government of land for extensive building projects.No connection with army preparedness.

Before the election Lapid was a secular messiah then he had to act like a politician rather than tv host and alot of his supporters turned on him. If there were an election held now his support would probably drop by half so he needs a new middle class friendly image before the election With these cuts he doesn't consider actual needs of the IDF although considering his military service was spent doing useless jobs like radio broadcasting its not surprising. He acts as if the IDF can choose when a war will be fought and make sure the cost of the war will stick to the confines of his budget. One of the reasons Lebanon was such a mess was over a decade of budget cuts. Money was not spent modernising older equipment or fitting things like active protection systems on new tanks to protect from anti tank missiles. Exercises had become few and far between & reserves were not called up for regular training so skills forgotten. Result is a glorified police forces rather than an army. The only thing Lapid is committed to when it comes to the IDF is a haredi draft even though they are not needed & will cost the IDF a fortune to integrate For Lapid sees the IDF is a political football to advance his career not win wars.

The IDF doesn't need and probably doesn't even want the haredi because it will cost cost millions just to create new haredi units alone and units like Nahal Haredi don't contribute an awful lot because its yeshiva study and some military service. Do we need to create more of that just so we can draft haredi just satisfy the secular public? In principle a hared draft is fair but in practicality based on IDF needs because it comes out their budget so they should be able to say we don't want them if needed without having to justify their decision to anybody. The IDF should not be subject to politics. The military needs to be kept out of politics be that the equipment they want or who they draft with government encouraging it but not demanding. They also need a multi year budget rather than an annual one, guarantee them a certain amount for the next 5 years or so and then the IDF can invest in projects without having to discover the next year the political climate had changed so they have to scrap their plan Thats not how you run an effective army.