Government approved budget cut of 2.6 billion ILS for defense procurement

The government approved a further budget cut of 4.9% from the state budget for 2026, amounting to 2.6 billion ILS, intended for urgent "defense procurement." This decision came a week after the government approved a cut of 1.03 billion ILS from the budget allocated for the development of the Arab community for the years 2027-2029.

Despite the controversial decision to cut the foundational budget across all ministries—without prioritization or harm to coalition funds—the discussion lasted only a few minutes. As a result of the budget cut, the budget for the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will face a reduction of 354 million ILS. The Ministry of Transportation's budget will be cut by 423 million ILS, while the Ministry of National Security will lose 224 million ILS.

The Ministry of Welfare will be significantly impacted with a reduction of 138 million ILS, and the Ministry of Health will see a cut of 109 million ILS, following their request for exemption from the cut being rejected. It is noted that the wide-ranging cut still requires approval from the Knesset Finance Committee, and is thus a joint agreement between the coalition and the opposition. Last month, the government and the committee approved an additional approximately 15 billion ILS for the defense budget.

Later in the government meeting, ministers are expected to vote on an additional cut of 0.5% starting from the 2027 budget to fund the prosecution of the Nukhba terrorists. This amounts to 776 million ILS, which will be spread over the years 2027-2033, and is intended, among other things, for the preparation of the infrastructure for managing mass trials, as well as an increase of about 370 positions, mostly for prison guards. The decision proposal will be submitted for ministerial approval despite the accompanying opinion noting that the prison service will not be ready to manage the trials starting in the first quarter of 2028. Many government ministries expressed opposition to the requested budget cut, including the Ministries of Defense, Environmental Protection, Agriculture, Welfare, and Housing.

Reported by TheMarker.