The 63 billion shekel question

The on-again off-again debate over the defense budget, which has become a constant fixture in our annual budget talks, requires that we all take a step back and look toward the horizon, through a tunnel that has no light at the end.

We are duty-bound to bolster the defense budget so that it meets Israel's security needs. We must not let Israel become crippled by a budget shortfall while our enemies work on their cyber warfare and shore up their missile caches. If we let Israel stumble and then rise only to stumble again, we might reach a situation (perhaps not now, but several years from now), where we will have to choose between two very bad options: an unraveling of our security, or a pivot toward a new doctrine, one that relies on Israel’s nuclear potential. God forbid we arrive at either destination.

In a long-forgotten era, back in the 1970s, then-U.S. Defense Secretary James R. Schlesinger said that in a worst-case scenario, the U.S. would tap its nuclear arsenal and essentially share it with its allies. An irritated Secretary of State Henry Kissinger retorted that such a statement should not have been said, although he did not take issue with its merits. Israel should never have to face such a situation. Only superpowers should grapple with such vexing dilemmas.

Those who have advocated defense cuts and want to continue marching down that path in the coming years should realize that their actions might result in another Kissinger-Schlesinger spat entering the history books -- this time through the secret cabinet minutes in Jerusalem.

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz have asked for another NIS 63 billion ($17 billion), mostly in the form of fixed appropriations. This would be a course correction that would remedy Israel’s defense shortcomings. It should not be viewed as a budget increase.

The Brodet Committee was tasked with drafting a long-term budgetary framework for the defense establishment. Some of its members served in senior military positions. Others were tapped because they were respected economists: former Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. CEO Eli Hurvitz (who has since died), current Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug and Professor Manuel Trajtenberg. The committee devised a 10-year plan under which the IDF would receive some NIS 63 billion. This would be contingent on IDF cost-cutting measures.

Last year, I criticized Ya’alon and Gantz for being content with a NIS 52 billion ($14 billion) defense budget (although later they did ask for supplemental funding). This time around, we must restore the defense budget to its former glory by increasing it to NIS 63 billion. I am not advocating anything new, only doing what has been agreed to before. I believe Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would ideally want to sign off on an even bigger increase -- NIS 16 billion ($4.4 billion) -- and have the budget stand at NIS 68 billion ($18 billion). That, however, may be unfeasible because of other budgetary constraints.

Netanyahu tapped Maj. Gen. (ret.) Yohanan Locker to head another committee on the defense budget, a decision that baffled me (was there anything wrong with the Brodet framework-). For the time being though, lawmakers must deliver on the NIS 63 billion they have pledged. Ehud Olmert failed to appropriate those funds when he was prime minister and Netanyahu failed to right that wrong. If the new committee decides on more cuts in defense, the defense establishment would have to fall in line.

To counter the threat of cyber warfare and successfully deal with the missiles aimed at Israel, it is incumbent upon us to heed the Defense Ministry's requests. We must do so if we are to deal with Hezbollah up north and stop the rise of the Islamic State (an ostensibly inexpensive undertaking, yet one that could set the whole region ablaze).

The budget can be amended later. Lawmakers can announce cuts all they want, but only after the Locker committee issues a new report. For the coalition to remain intact, lawmakers must agree to this. Finance Minister Yair Lapid met with Netanyahu on Sunday, but no agreement was reached. They must accept this truce and have it serve as the basis for the 2015 state budget.

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