Israeli Opposition Agrees to Consider Defense Budget Transfer

The Israeli Knesset's finance committee and the foreign affairs and defense committee are scheduled to convene on Wednesday, September 23, to discuss the government's request to transfer 15 billion shekels from the Ministry of Finance's reserves for defense needs. The opposition has granted conditional approval for the transfer of funds during the election campaign period, provided that a closed-door meeting is held where each transfer is justified. If the opposition lawmakers are satisfied with the explanations, the requests will proceed to a vote in the finance committee.

Of the total amount, 11.76 billion shekels are earmarked for expenses related to Operation "Lion's Roar" and for ongoing needs, including partial repayment of debts owed by the Israel Defense Forces and the Ministry of Defense to defense contractors. Currently, this does not cover the full debt of 17 billion shekels.

An additional request for 3 billion shekels for defense purposes has been submitted without detailed justifications. In total, the Ministry of Finance submitted 25 budget transfer requests. Three defense-related requests were approved for discussion, along with two others: one for the financing of the Ministry of Finance itself (covering the tax authority, compensation fund, and state comptroller's office) and another for the National Security Council (salaries for unpaid leave).

Discussions on other contentious requests, some of which involve coalition funds, have not yet been agreed upon within the framework of coalition-opposition arrangements.