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Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
Barak slams push to cut defense budget for 2009 |
2008-08-17 |
![]() Barak also condemned Finance Minister Roni Bar-On statement's that in order to balance the budget, cuts must be made either to social welfare programs or defense. "The attempt to present a dilemma between security and welfare is deceiving," Barak said, adding that "both welfare and education are part of the security of the citizens of Israel, and the civilian leadership must find a way to invest in both simultaneously." Barak's statements came after Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Head Tzachi Hanegbi and the heads of the body's seven subcommittees sent a letter to the Knesset on Friday demanding that the government avoid making cuts to the Israel Defense Force's 2009 budget, calling the current budget "a red line that cannot be crossed." In their letter, the seven subcommittee heads said The Second Lebanon War "painfully demonstrates to all of us the price of neglecting the army and the cuts in defense spending made in the years before the war. The drop in the level of IDF inventory, reductions in training hours for active and reserve duty troops, and the damage caused to the battle-readiness of combat units, all came directly as a result of defense spending cuts." Over a year ago, the Knesset approved the 2009 budget, and shortly thereafter, the Finance Ministry recommended a NIS 2 billion cut in defense spending in order to accommodate the new budget. |
Posted by:Fred |
#3 #2: NIS2 billion cut in Defence? Are they mad?? I hope the new Prime Minister addresses that aggressively. Posted by: trailing wife|| Sounds like Israel has the same problem with the Left the US has. For some reason, the Left can't understand that there are really and truly people "out there" that will kill them simply because they're "not like them". Obamanation is one such idiot. |
Posted by: Old Patriot 2008-08-17 16:10 |
#2 NIS2 billion cut in Defence? Are they mad?? I hope the new Prime Minister addresses that aggressively. |
Posted by: trailing wife 2008-08-17 12:42 |
#1 cuts must be made either to social welfare programs or defense Dawn's uncertain light? |
Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-08-17 06:00 |