Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is asking for an increase of 8.3 billion shekels ($2.4 billion) in the defense budget, which for 2019 stands at NIS 63 billion ($18 billion).
Lieberman spoke on Monday at Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on next year's defense budget. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, Defense Ministry Director General Maj. Gen. (res.) Udi Adam and the Finance Ministry's Budgets Director Shaul Meridor also attended the meeting.
According to Lieberman, the funds he is requesting are not an addition to the budget, but rather a restoration of the NIS 6.2 billion ($1.8 billion) in cuts made as parts of sweeping financial reforms, with the remaining NIS 2.1 billion ($600 million) needed for the IDF and the Defense Ministry to perform new tasks with which they have been charged.
"This is not open to interpretation. This is basic arithmetic," Lieberman said. "We need to present things accurately. We are talking about a multiyear plan that is NIS 8.3 billion short."
The final vote on the budget has been postponed until Wednesday to allow representatives of the government, the military and the Finance Ministry to meet and negotiate the figures in hope of reaching a compromise.
