Yes to modernization

To Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, who developed a plan that will change the face of the IDF and meet its modern needs, a job well done!

Even those who think the plan was forced by defense budget cuts should welcome it. It's really not bad.

However, the defense budget cuts could turn into a hindrance if changing with the times while cutting costs leave Israel vulnerable to an Arab military initiative. Ya'alon said on Thursday that battles like those that took place during the Yom Kippur War four decades ago wouldn't be common in the future. But predictions are doomed to failure. Israel is a tiny powerhouse that faces a different reality than all other countries in the world.

Let's compare Israel to the U.S. In the past century. The U.S. was the strongest military force in two world wars and broke the Soviet Union's neck in the Cold War. It developed the most advanced and expensive weapons systems in the world. But in its three main conflicts -- against Kaiser Wilhelm II, Adolf Hitler and the Kremlin -- the U.S. didn't have to prepare for multiple types of fighting. Until the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. invested almost nothing in fighting terrorism.

Israel never had such an option. Israel needs expensive missiles of all types and its infantry troops must achieve victory on the battlefield quickly to avoid being stopped not by enemy forces, but by foreign diplomats on the U.N. Security Council.

Modernization is the correct worldview and it is held by both Ya'alon and Gantz. But Israel won't decide how and when it will be attacked, so the burden of defense placed on its shoulders is heavier than that of other countries. Israel got a bitter taste of this reality during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

If the new worldview presented by Ya'alon and Gantz is heralding a revolution, it shouldn't be stopped at the juncture where it stands right now.

Increasing financial savings while also improving capabilities at the same time requires innovative vision. There are three huge overlapping budgets that place a heavy burden on the Israeli economy: security, education and health.

There are many areas where cooperation between the IDF and the education system could yield double the value for the price of one. This requires a clear vision under which the military would receive skilled soldiers from the education system after the formulation of a unified curriculum in different areas. This could also be done at the university level. In the area of health, the IDF is a customer of the hospital system and has an interest in medical education. In all of this, the common sense logic of "two for the price of one" applies.

This will require great vision, but there are already existing models that can be updated. People with vision and understanding can leverage tremendous achievements for a price (albeit an expensive one).

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