Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel’s military, reeling from massive budget cuts, has halted weapons and equipment procurement.

Officials said the Defense Ministry has blocked all military procurement not required for combat operations. They said the ministry order would harm current weapons programs as well as logistics.

“We have frozen all acquisition and order contracts that haven’t been
signed,” Israeli Defense Ministry director-general Dan Harel said.

In a statement on May 26, Harel said the freeze would lead to massive
layoffs in the state-owned defense industry. He said the ministry was
reviewing all projects and contracts to determine their feasibility in 2014.

“The defense industry has fired and will fire thousands of workers
because the channels of communication have been cut,” Harel said.

The order came in wake of a government decision for a nearly $2 billion
defense budget cut over the next three years.

The Finance Ministry has rejected appeals for additional funding, saying the military has mismanaged
procurement programs. Most of these programs were based on $3.2 billion in annual aid from the United States.

Harel rejected the accusations, based on an outside audit of the
military and Defense Ministry, which in 2014 received $3 billion less than
requested. He said the military, which long lobbied for a multi-year budget,
has been hampered by uncertainty over allocations by the government.

“Every year, the defense establishment is underfunded and cannot meet
tasks assigned by the government,” Harel said. “Supplemental funds are
then approved, which causes uncertainty. There has been no multi-year plan
for the past four years. The result is failure to exploit resources in the
best manner, and damage to the process aimed at strengthening the military,
as well as acquisitions and training.”

The military has warned that it needs an infusion of $220 million to
maintain operations. Without the money, the General Staff could decide to
end all training and reduce combat air operations in June.

“We won’t be able to start the year [2015],” a military source said.
“We’ll have to shut down.”

  Dan Harel, freeze on weapons and equipment procurement, Israeli military freezes procurement after defense budget cut