Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich vetoed a meeting of the commission that was supposed to approve the deal to purchase military aircraft worth a total of 35 billion shekels. In his letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he emphasizes that the Ministry of Defense will not receive any more “open checks” after its catastrophic failure on October 7, 2023. The Ministry of Defense calls Smotrich’s demarche “political.”
As reported on Monday, April 1, Ynet, Smotrich indicated in his letter that an expensive and long-term deal is being carried out without approval by the Cabinet of Ministers, without the consent of the Ministry of Finance and without even the Minister of Finance being informed about it, he calls such behavior unprecedented and unacceptable.
Smotrich recalls that the war requires a revision of many decisions regarding the defense budget, after the end of the war the security system will also require huge budget additions, and the Ministry of Finance believes that the basic premises in making such decisions should be checked and revised, and the order of priorities should be built, as expected.
Smotrich emphasizes that the security system’s expectation of receiving open checks for huge sums that will affect the economy and quality of life of all Israelis, without a critical assessment, professional and public debate about the need for these expenditures, is unrealistic – especially after the failure of October 7 and everything that preceded him.
We are talking about the acquisition of a squadron of F-15 aircraft and a squadron of F-35 aircraft: consent in principle for this transaction was received quite a long time ago, but right now, according to Smotrich, there is no such urgency in concluding a deal to carry it out “over the head” of the ministry finance.