Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning that Israel must significantly raise its military budget in order to meet the existential dangers facing the Jewish State.
Netanyahu made the remarks Monday during a ceremony to extend the term of Bank of Israel Governor Professor Amir Yaron.
“The Israeli economy is a strong ship in stormy seas,” Netanyahu said. Perhaps the analogy is fitting, given the current attempt by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen to destroy the economy of the State of Israel by targeting shipping in the Red Sea.
“It is clear, maybe it is not but I will define is as succinctly as possible, because I think that this is the greatest challenge we face beyond victory in the war,” Netanyahu said.
“Over the years, we have increased the security budget but in practice we have reduced it as a proportion of GDP. We have done so because our free market policy has increased GDP and therefore, if the security budget has also increased as a proportion of GDP, it has declined.
“We will be unable to continue with this policy,” he said.
“As of now, we must significantly increase – in absolute terms, a considerable increase – the security budget by at least NIS 20 billion per annum, also as a proportion of GDP. It is possible that the supplement will be one percent or more of GDP in order to meet our security needs.
“We are in the midst of several very extreme caliphates that want to uproot and destroy us, and we must strengthen ourselves,” Netanyahu emphasized. “This strength also gives us the ability to forge alliances within and beyond the region. This requires a very significant increase in the security budget.”
Netanyahu then returned to his maritime analogy.
“Our ship, the ship of the Israeli economy, which is also a passenger vessel and a commercial ship, needs to arm itself with more cannon and become a very, very strong warship. This is the first thing that will ensure our ability to sail it to safe shores.
