Security Budget Boost Stalled Ahead of Israeli Elections

A significant budget increase promised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the defense establishment remains stalled, with little chance of approval before the upcoming elections in six weeks. This delay occurs despite recent warnings from the military that its readiness and armament levels are critically low. Negotiations between Netanyahu and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had previously agreed to breach the state budget to allocate tens of billions of shekels to defense.

Smotrich had requested Netanyahu finalize the exact sum to allow the Finance Ministry to prepare the necessary government resolution. However, Netanyahu has not yet communicated the final figure to Smotrich. While Smotrich assured cooperation with any amount Netanyahu decides, he stressed the need for the "minimum necessary" to avoid compromising future commitments and urgent procurement, suggesting that any amounts beyond immediate needs should await the next government's decision.

Netanyahu appeared close to authorizing a budget breach of approximately 25 to 30 billion shekels, aligning with Smotrich's conditional agreement. Yet, the directive has not been issued, preventing the budget breach process from starting and no government proposal from being drafted by the Finance Ministry. Any budget addition beyond the current state budget requires a government decision followed by Knesset approval in three readings.

The Finance Ministry stated to Ynet that they could prepare a resolution quickly, but only once the specific additional amount for the defense establishment is known.