"If we don't get extra – we'll disable flights"

Senior official in the Defense Ministry attacked yesterday (Sunday) the Minister of Finance in view of his refusal to allow an additional budget of NIS 10 billion for the 2015 budget. As quoted by Walla he said, "If we do not get a budget of 63 billion we'll disable again the flights and ground training starting next April."

The senior went on to threaten - "The army will just stop, as if there was no war here in recent months. This is not a threat, it's a reality."

According to the senior official, members of Finance and Minister Lapid are oblivious to the requirements of the Defense Ministry. "They want us to get efficient and cut down, but are not willing to listen about the 'heavy stones' issue," he said. "Again, they forget the pensions as part of the budget, the budget IDF disabled in the Rehabilitation Department and the budget of bereaved families." He adds, "Our basic requests to stop paying fuel tax and tax on financial assistance from the United States are ignored. It's not serious."

Last night the meeting of the Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Lapid, regarding the budget, ended with no results. They determined that they will let the professional teams discuss the topic for the next few days and meet again in order to reach common ground.

Sources involved in the details told the media that "there was a very good meeting", but in the end - the parties did not reach an agreement. Finance Minister presented Netanyahu with a budget which is characterized by a policy of increasing the deficit, avoiding taxes and tax 0 budget plan.


During the meeting, Netanyahu maintained his view by which one should maintain a low deficit framework. Lapid agreed in principle to give extra to the defense budget, but only one which is connected to the fighting force activity.

In contrast to Lapid, Netanyahu addressed the contentious issue last night and said that he believes one should transfer to the Defense Ministry the full amount demanded by them, without regard to any stipulations. "The funds we invested in security contributed to the national economy," said Netanyahu, who concluded yesterday the International Cyber Conference at Tel Aviv University.
"The billions we invested in 'Iron Dome' allowed the Israeli economy to continue to function during the last war - and prevented the escape of investments in Israel. The billions invested in the South fence completely blocked infiltration into Israel including Sinai jihadists as well. I remember there was criticism of our 'excessive' investment in security, but I do not want to think what would have happened if we did not invest in it." He added that "in light of the threats in our region, we need to significantly increase the security budget by many billions, and one has to do so in a responsible way without a large deficit."

Heads of the security system are satisfied with Prime Minister Netanyahu's call to grant the requested the addition to the defense budget. According to Ministry officials, Lapid is not interested in the elections, and the perception is that in the end he will have to align with the Prime Minister's demands and deliver the extra budget they requested.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!