Israel Parliament Approves Massive Defense Budget Increase
- The Israeli Parliament has approved a significant increase in defense budget.
- It will surge by several billion dollars.
- Bethsabée Salem, correspondent in Israel, discusses the reasons behind this sharp increase on LCI.
A substantial increase. The Israeli Parliament approved, on Monday 30th March, a massive rise in defense budget, around 8 to 9 billion dollars, a month after the start of the Middle East conflict. The state’s expenditures in this area have been rising sharply in recent years.
“It’s a 20% increase compared to last year”
, points out Bethsabée Salem, correspondent in Israel, on LCI. In this field, France has a slightly higher budget than Israel even though it has a much higher population. Yet, “an Israeli funds six times more of the defense budget than a French. It’s an enormous economic pressure”
, the journalist points out this Monday.
The involvement of the Israeli state in several conflicts is the cause of this situation. Air defense and interception systems also represent high costs for Israel. “When ballistic missiles are intercepted, it costs between 1 and 3 million dollars each time. This needs to be multiplied by all the missiles that are fired”
, Bethsabée Salem continues. The heavy mobilization of reservists also has a high cost.
For Israel, the economic cost of wars is significant. “The pressure is very heavy. Just before the war, the Israeli economy had just stabilized”
, concludes the correspondent, present in Tel Aviv.
