The Israeli occupation finance ministry escalates its dispute with the Ministry of Defense by freezing new arms contracts for the army
The Israeli occupation Ministry of Finance escalated its dispute with the Ministry of Defense over the increasing expenditures of the Israeli occupation army, and decided to freeze any new contracts because they exceeded the 2025 budget limits. This is according to the official letter of the Accountant General of Finance, Elie Rothenberg, published in the newspaper “Yedioth Ahronoth”.
In the letter, Rothenberg informed the Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, Amir Baram, The freeze will come into effect as of next Sunday, which will immediately affect the ministry’s spending mechanism.
The freeze decision, according to Rothenberg, aims to force responsible adherence to the framework of work according to the 2025 budget. According to the Ministry of Finance, the expected financial needs of the Ministry of Defense For the Israeli occupation, by the end of this year, a total of 121.4 billion shekels, “equivalent to 37.6 billion US dollars,” most of which has already been spent. Officials point out that the new commitments are continuing without being matched by funding sources.
Rothenberg said that the Israeli occupation Ministry of Defense is operating outside the budget cover, describing the situation as “unacceptable”. The Ministry of Defense, which, unlike the rest of the ministries, allowed it to bypass the strict supervision of the Ministry of the Treasury.
Rothenberg wrote, “The current system harms the overall control of the budget and coordination between pledges and sources of funding.”
While the Israeli Ministry of Finance suspended new defense contracts, it excluded from this critical expenditures, which include salaries, pensions, payments to the reserve army, and services for injured soldiers.. Payments to small suppliers – up to one million shekels – are scheduled to continue to avoid harm to small projects.
Rothenberg called for a re-evaluation of how defense resources are managed, demanding that the ministry work within the legal limits of the budget.. He recommended discharging non-essential reservists and reducing activity levels “consistent with professional security assessment.”
Despite the freeze decision, the Accountant General expressed his hope that the Ministries of Defense and Finance can cooperate to quickly Resetting the budget “in a way that emphasizes the continuation of the ministry’s work while adhering to the state’s financial rules.”
Defense Ministry officials responded violently to the Israeli occupation, accusing the Finance Ministry of pessimism and lacking a sense of responsibility at a critical time for national security.
Officials said, " “Finance manipulates the defense budget, reneges on billions of agreements, and stops payments to thousands of suppliers,” they added. We expected the Finance Ministry to support the Israeli army, not paralyze it.”
Defense officials warned that the Ministry of Finance was repeating the same mistake it made before October 7, when it reduced defense spending despite growing threats. They pointed out that Israel was forced to rely on exceptional assistance from the United States, stressing that the army will need to reconfigure its stockpiles of supplies, modernize its equipment, and obtain new platforms, ammunition and interceptor missiles in preparation for any escalation.
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