Israel to Cut Ministry Budgets by $700 Million for Urgent Defense Purchases

By Вести-Ynet

Translated & summarized from Vesty by baba

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The Israeli government will cut ministry budgets by 2.6 billion shekels on October 18 to fund urgent defense purchases. This cut, affecting all ministries proportionally, is larger than a previous one for Apache helicopters. The government rejected a proposal to use coalition funds, opting instead to reduce civilian ministry budgets for education, health, and social welfare.

The story in 5 lines · by baba

Israel's government will cut ministry budgets by 2.6 billion shekels on October 18.
The funds are designated for urgent defense acquisitions.
All government ministries will face a proportional budget reduction of about 5%.
The Ministry of Education will lose 285 million shekels, the largest cut.
The government rejected using coalition funds for the defense purchases.

The Israeli government is set to approve another state budget cut this coming Sunday, October 18, to fund urgent defense acquisitions. This latest reduction will amount to 2.6 billion shekels (approximately $700 million), significantly more than a previous cut of 1 billion shekels allocated for purchasing 12 Apache combat helicopters. While the earlier funds for the helicopters were reportedly diverted from a five-year development program for Israel's Arab sector, this new, broader cut will affect all government ministries.

The proposal calls for a uniform reduction of approximately 5% in each ministry's development and procurement budgets. Consequently, the largest civilian ministries will see the most substantial financial withdrawals. The Ministry of Education is slated to lose 285 million shekels, the Ministry of National Security 225 million shekels, the Ministry of Health 150 million shekels, and the Ministry of Social Welfare 140 million shekels, among others, totaling the 2.6 billion shekel cut.

Notably, the government rejected a recommendation from senior Ministry of Finance officials to finance these defense purchases by drawing from "coalition funds", budget allocations distributed according to agreements within the ruling coalition. Instead, the additional defense spending will be covered by the budgets of state ministries, including those responsible for education, health, and social welfare, without impacting funds designated by coalition agreements.