The Debate over Israel’s Defense Budget

In discussions held by the government and the Knesset about the defense budgets for 2014 and 2015, the traditional wrangling between the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Finance went up a notch. “Wrangling” is a situation of a major lack of agreement between the sides – on the boundaries of the discussion, the powers of the parties, the concepts involved, and the contents of the discussion. The dispute regarding the defense budget reached a new level when in May 2014, the IDF was forced to stop the annual training exercises of reservists due to lack of money. Overall, the Finance Ministry argues that the defense budget “is too big for the economy,” while the higher echelons in the Defense Ministry argue that the budget is too small to meet Israel’s defense needs – evidenced by the fact that by May additional funds were already needed for 2014. The ritual is repeated every year. The arguments raised by the Finance and Defense Ministries, and the government’s difficulty in taking responsibility and deciding between the positions, invite the question as to whether the defense budget is determined in a proper, measured process that takes account of both defense challenges and civilian needs. A related question concerns the role of each party in this process.