Bad blood is spilling toward the Israel Defense Forces. The fashion today is to paint the army in a negative light. But anyone with the ability to see and think straight knows that another budget cut means Israel's defensive shield will crack. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Dan Harel are serious people, devoid of pretenses. They are not cheap tricksters, and they are not looking to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. Their comments at the Knesset on Tuesday leave no doubt: 56.1 billion shekels ($14.5 billion) cannot buy security. The IDF of 2015 is a chopped and trimmed-down army. Its aircraft, tanks and brigades are in the worst condition they've ever been. People are arguing that the Syrian regime has disintegrated and no longer poses a threat. True, but what about the Iranian soldiers filling its void, not to mention the Islamic State group and other similar evils? It's also true that the future battlefield will be different. Israel is very advanced in the fields of intelligence and cyber warfare, but there is a considerable likelihood that the next campaign will still depend on a large number of traditional battle tools, many of which the IDF is being forced to give up. Ya'alon on Tuesday called on the special Knesset committee not to approve the 2016 defense budget. Among Zionist politicians, in contrast to demagogues, no greater consensus can be found. Virtually the entire committee sought to alleviate the concerns of those heading the defense establishment, telling them the budget will grow regardless over the years, and that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also promised this, which is true. It is unthinkable, however, that the IDF will have to continue getting along in this hand-to-mouth manner. Following the disappointing results of the 2006 Second Lebanon War, the Brodet Commission was formed. Among its members were esteemed individuals like the late former CEO of Teva Eli Hurvitz and current Bank of Israel Governor Dr. Karnit Flug, Professor Manuel Trajtenberg, Dr. Orna Berry, and retired IDF generals Ilan Biran and Eitan Ben-Eliyahu. The commission determined a budget outline for a decade. The IDF chief of staff at the time, Gabi Ashkenazi, was not happy with the sums but ultimately consented because it made it possible to put out a multi-year work plan. The government of former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert failed to deliver on its promises. For the IDF, having a multi-year work plan is like having air to breathe. Eizenkot has presented his plan, named Gideon, which has also integrated certain components of the Locker Commission's recommendations. But this type of budget slashing, along with truncating mandatory service time and sullying the good name of career officers, makes any multi-year plan moot and impossible to implement to begin with. The IDF is our iron wall. It is my iron wall. I do not consent to seeing it wander among us like some beggar with outstretched hands.
