National defense costs money
On Wednesday, I got a snapshot of the raging debate over the defense budget. A senior journalist turned my attention to a patient currently being treated at the Kaplan Medical Center. A 7-month old infant was exposed to a rare toxin and is fighting for his life. The doctors said he had botulinum poisoning and asked the Israel Institute for Biological Research for a special serum that was originally designed to treat casualties of a biological attack. The institute provided them access to the Health Ministry's emergency stockpiles and provided the special antibody. Now the baby is apparently out of the woods.
Over time, such serums might lose some their potency, especially if they are just kept at some warehouse for years on end. In pure economic terms, this is a net loss for the Israeli economy because Israel is not at war (let's hope things stays that way). So what's the alternative? Are we to stop producing this serum because this could save a lot of taxpayer shekels?
This, on a much larger scale, is what the defense budget is all about. I recently used this column to talk about a family who has not heard of a thing called draft-dodging. The main breadwinner in the family was a combat soldier and now works at the Israel Defense Forces General Staff, but his commute starts at 10 a.m. due to a budget shortfall that forced the army to end certain projects; another family member, who completed his service as an Israeli Air Force major, will now spend more time in the factory he works at -- a welcome development as far as senior management is concerned -- because he would spend less time away on training flights to maintain his skills. And then there is the younger draftee, who despite passing the screening process for the IDF Officers Course, will not extend his service, having decided to go travelling to far-flung destinations.
So, yes, this family's truncated routine saves an untold amount of shekels. But Israel cannot afford such luxuries; not in the Middle East, where most wars have erupted out of the blue (including intifadas, or popular uprisings). That is why the IDF needs this special serum. The Iron Dome anti-rocket system costs a lot to produce, and it might become rusty if it is never used (Amen to that), but would you scrap that project? Similarly, Israel must maintain its pilots' combat worthiness, despite the supposed waste in having them go on training missions when there are no major hostilities. If you were to accept this flawed rationale, missile boats would not to patrol the coast of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip during the night because there is no rampant terrorism.
Finance Ministry officials have taken pains to show that they have nothing against combat soldiers. They have tried to create a false narrative, using cynical ploys. Does Finance Minister Yair Lapid have any idea how many combat support troops stay up at night to facilitate the mission of a commando who has been dispatched to some faraway destination? And has he ever given thought to the billions of shekels the IDF Military Intelligence Directorate needs (despite the boosted funding), owing to the rising threat of cyber terrorists?
What would Israel do if Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon and Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz say "apres moi le deluge" and proceed to slash funding for projects that would only show results several years from now? What if they decided to invest in the present, not in the future? The harm would be felt for generations to come.
There is money to be spent. The government has suddenly discovered it had enough capital to bail out the Hadassah Medical Organization. And I am glad it did that. But this just shows that cuts are not always necessary, otherwise it would have had to defund certain government agencies to pay for the Hadassah recovery.
Money doesn't just grow on trees. This column would have been spared had the Brodet Committee been followed. The 10-year budget it outlined (which would still run a deficit) was adopted by both the Defense Ministry and the Finance Ministry, only to be disregarded by the government later on. There is readily available money to be spent; but there is no political courage to be found.
The Brodet Committee envisioned a 63 billion shekel ($18 billion) budget cut in 2015. Ya'alon capitulated and signed off on a 60 billion shekel ($17 billion) cut. When the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet convenes after the Shavuot holiday, Ya'alon will have to lay out the IDF combat doctrine. He must not shy away from brinkmanship. The people who serve and protect our country should not rely on our good graces, but rather should be rewarded for their graceful conduct.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו