JERUSALEM, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minster Ehud Olmert should stop the Finance Ministry from cutting nearly $650 million from the country's defense budget, Knesset officials say.
Members of the Israeli Legislature's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sent a letter to the prime minister this week, asking him to oppose the proposed 2009 budget cuts in order to preserve national security, Ynetnews reported Saturday.
The committee members said "there is no need to list the multiple security threats Israel is facing or mention the great resources such an existential challenge demands. The Second Lebanon War displayed the price of neglecting the army and cutting the defense budget, namely the depleted supplies and the reduction in army training days."
Yet Knesset Member Yossi Beilin told Ynetnews he does not support his fellow politicians' efforts to preserve the defense budget.
"The large gaps in Israeli society are no less of a security problem than acquiring planes or tanks. A major cut in the defense budget is necessary in order to deal with saving Israeli society from decline that will harm Israel's strength. Defense Minister Ehud Barak should be the first one to understand this," Beilin said.
